Nowadays, many users prefer a multi-monitor setup to increase productivity. Using an external monitor with a laptop or computer allows for more efficient workflows, especially when the exterior is paired with the external keyboard and mouse for convenience. In such cases, it may not be necessary to keep the laptop open, so users often close the lid and set it aside. However, one of the main issues with this setup is that when the laptop lid closes, it automatically enters sleep mode. By default, Windows is designed to close the laptop when the lid is closed, which if you want to continue the use of the outer monitor as the primary performance, may be disappointed. Fortunately, Windows 11 allows you to modify sleep settings to keep your laptop running even when the lid is closed. In this article, we will guide you through stages of keeping the outer monitor as the default performance when closing the laptop lid in Windows 11.
Keep External Monitor as Default When I Am Closing the Lid:
By default Windows will automatically put your Laptop to Sleep when you close the lid, so first we need to modify this feature, to keep the external monitor running.
Step 1: Prevent Windows 11 from Sleeping When Closing the Lid
To prevent Windows 11 from Sleeping When closing the Lid, we need to modify the Power Options sleep settings, follow the below steps to modify the Power Options.
Open Windows Settings by pressing Windows + R and type Control and hit enter, this command will open the Control Panel.
In the Control Panel click on the Power Options.
Under Power Options from the left-hand side pane click on “Choose What Closing the lid does”.
Under the System settings page, click on “Change settings that are currently unavailable”, and Click on “When I close the lid” dropdown menu and choose Do nothing for On batter as well as Plugged in.
Once you done the changes click on Save Changes.
Step 2: Set the External Monitor as the Primary Display
Once you set the sleep settings make sure your external monitor is set as the Primary Display, Follow the below steps to set your external monitor as the Primary Display.
Right-click on the Desktop and select Display Settings.
Under Display, Settings Click on Identify to check the Number and click on Display, which you want to set as the Primary Display, Click on the External Monitor and set as the Primary Display, Click on “Make this my main display” checkbox to set the external monitor as Primary.
If you don’t want the laptop screen to be active, then select “Show only on (External Monitor)” from the dropdown menu.
Now close the lid and check whether the laptop is active or not, mostly it won’t, but if it still goes to sleep mode then you can follow the below two methods as a work around.
Disable the Hibernation:
To disable the Hibernation mode, Open the command Prompt in elevated mode and type the following command and hit enter.
powercfg.exe /hibernate off
These commands will Disable the Hibernation mode, so if there is no hibernation then the laptop won’t go to hibernate state when you close the lid.
Disable the Sleep option using Registry:
Note: Modifying the Registry is risky, and it causes irreversible damage to your OS Installation Follow the steps correctly. Friendly advice Before Modifying the Registry Creating Restore Point is recommended.
Open the Run command by pressing Windows + R and type Regedit and hit enter, this command will open the Registry Editor.
Now Navigate to the following registry path.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power
From the left-hand side click on the Power Registry key and from the right-hand side look for “AwayModeEnabled” DWORD 32-bit value if you are not able to find that value, then you need to create the DWORD, right-click on the Power registry key and choose New > DWORD 32-bit value and name it as “AwayModeEnabled”.
Now Double click on the “AwayModeEnabled” and set the Value data to 0 and click on OK.
Restart the system once to make changes effective, now the sleep option will be unavailable, So closing the lid won’t invoke the sleep. Check by closing your laptop lid.
Read Also:
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