Stop Windows 7 Laptop Computer from Going to Sleep

While it’s easy to understand why most laptop users would want their computers to automatically go to sleep after a certain time in order to save battery life, that does not mean that every laptop user wants to employ that feature.

For example, if you frequently have your laptop plugged into a wall outlet, or if you close your lid whenever you are not using your laptop, then having a set amount of time before entering sleep mode might be unnecessary.

Fortunately, you can stop your Windows 7 laptop from going to sleep entirely by configuring the power mode settings included in Windows 7.

Configure Sleep Settings in Windows 7

Windows 7 laptop computers have a combination of settings that you can select from called “power plans.” Some examples of power plans are “Balanced” and “High Performance”.

You can adjust the settings in these plans, however, so that they are more in line with your own needs. One of the options that you can set is the amount of time of inactivity after which Windows 7 will automatically put the computer to sleep.

Step 1: Right-click the battery icon in the system tray at the bottom-right corner of the screen, then click Power Options.

right-click battery icon

Step 2: Click the blue Change plan settings link to the right of your currently selected power plan. If you regularly use more than one plan and want to change the sleep settings for each plan, then you will need to repeat these steps for each plan.

change power plan settings

Step 3: Click the drop-down menu to the right of Put the computer to sleep, then click the Never option. If you want to stop the computer from going to sleep both when it is running on battery power and when plugged into an outlet, then repeat this step for the other drop-down menu as well.

stop windows 7 laptop from going to sleep

Step 4: Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the window.

Now that you know how to stop the Windows 7 computer from going to sleep, you can better manage the way that it handles turning off or hibernating.

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