Experiencing battery drain instead? Try our tips to solve the battery drain issue.
1. Disable Wake Timers
A built-in functionality in Windows, these timers can be set to wake your PC up from sleep so that the system can perform an update or maintenance tasks. These scheduled tasks are usually performed at odd hours when your system is likely to be idle or in sleep mode. If you suspect wake timers are the reason your PC is randomly waking up from sleep, disable them.
2. Check Peripheral Devices
Peripherals like your keyboard and mouse can also be behind Windows waking up from sleep. This is especially common in the case of wireless mice that can get triggered accidentally with the slightest movement. Though the functionality to wake up your system with your keyboard and mouse is useful (if you don’t want to keep pressing the power button), it can often cause accidental startups. The next time your PC wakes up from sleep without your knowledge, you can find out what caused it by using the following procedure: Tip: learn how to install unsigned drivers in Windows.
3. Adjust Network Adapters
Your network adapter, if pinged, can wake your computer even if it’s in sleep mode. To stop the device from waking up your system, start by accessing its properties in the Device Manager as shown in the previous section.
4. Tweak the Registry
Sometimes your PC’s registry settings can prevent it from going to sleep completely. To resolve this, access a certain property in the Registry Editor and confirm with its value set as “one.” Tip: you can clean up your Windows registry using one of these methods.
5. Disable Windows Maintenance Schedule
Windows regularly runs update and maintenance tasks, such as checking whether your system needs defragmentation, looking for disk errors, running diagnostics, or simply installing Windows updates. These tasks can wake up your PC from sleep if the corresponding option is turned on. If you don’t want Windows running these maintenance tasks automatically (you should still run them yourself now and then), follow the steps below:
6. Disable Automatic Restart
Automatic restart reboots your system in case of a system crash or failure. This is not an issue when it happens during regular usage. But in sleep mode, this will reboot your system and wake up your display. To avoid this, disable the option:
7. Install Latest Spotify Version
One of the older versions of Spotify used to wake up Windows from sleep automatically. Though it was fixed in later versions, your system could still be running on the faulty version. It’s advisable to remove the previous version and install the latest one from Spotify’s official website. Trying out these fixes can help you narrow down the reason your PC may be waking up automatically. If your system isn’t booting at all, check out our guide on what to do if Windows fails to start. Image credit: Nakul via Unsplash. All screenshots by Tanveer Singh.
