How To Keep Your Laptop Awake Even When Its Lid Is Closed

Last Updated on March 13, 2022 by Asif Iqbal Shaik

While a laptop offers computing and portability, it has a few quirks that often lead users craving for a fix. For instance, a laptop (by default) goes to sleep mode the moment you close its lid. There’s no denying that there are valid reasons for brands to keep this “feature” enabled by default, but this could turn out to be pretty frustrating for those who use the laptop by connecting it to an external monitor and keep the lid closed.

If this option is turned on, users either have to painstakingly enter login credentials every time the lid is opened or keep the lid open. Neither of these situations can be deemed ideal. If you want to keep the laptop awake even when its lid is closed, we have got you covered with this article.

Highlights Of The Article

1. Why Do Laptop Screens Turn Off When The Lid Is Closed?
2. How To Keep A Laptop Awake Even While Its Lid Is Closed?
3. Keep A Windows Laptop Awake Even With Its Lid Closed
4. Keep A MacBook Laptop Awake Even With Its Lid Closed

Why Do Laptop Screens Turn Off When The Lid Is Closed?

By default, laptop screens turn off whenever their lid is closed. This is done to conserve battery life using sleep mode.

Additionally, powerful laptops could accidentally damage your machine if it doesn’t go into sleep mode and overheats. So, even if you want this option to be turned off, kindly make sure that you take care of such circumstances.

For those using their laptops on a metered data connection, this default option could potentially save data usage.

In short, when a laptop goes to sleep, it conserves and preserves battery, data, and, well, the device itself.

How To Keep A Laptop Awake Even While Its Lid Is Closed?

There are two operating systems we will talk about: Windows Laptops and Macbooks (Running macOS). Let us begin with Windows laptops.

1. Keep A Windows Laptop Awake Even With Its Lid Closed

Microsoft’s Windows operating system provides its users a simple toggle to keep your laptop screen on even when its lid is closed. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. At the bottom right portion of the System Tray, find the Battery icon.
2. Click the small arrow to show all icons.
3. From there, right-click on the Battery icon and choose Power Options.
4. Spot the When I Close The Lid settings menu and change the Sleep option into Do Nothing by clicking on the dropdown menu.
5. You can toggle this options for two instances: While the laptop is On Battery and while it is Plugged In.
6. Click Save Changes and voila!

Additional Tip: Alternatively, you can skip steps 1 and 2 and head straight to Settings > System > Power & Sleep and select Additional Power Settings. The rest of the process is the same (Step 4 and Step 5). If you want to save some more time, you can simply type Lid into the Start Menu to immediately find this menu.

2. Keep A MacBook Awake Even With Its Lid Closed

MacBook users can keep their laptop screen awake even with its lid closed. There are some simple steps that one has to go through:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click the Battery icon.
3. Choose the Power Adapter tab.
4. Pick the Turn display Off After slider and drop it all the way to the right, where it can rest at the Never text.
5. Turn on the Prevent Computer From Sleeping Automatically When The Display Is Off menu.

To summarize, you can always keep your laptop awake even when the lid is closed, and we have thoroughly informed you about the process. That said, there are benefits involved with the default option as well. Do keep in mind that having the option turned on will lead to a far better battery backup, a long-lasting battery, a risk-free operation, and will save some data.

But, if you are one of those who definitely need this option to be turned off, this article would definitely have helped you out. What are your thoughts? Did you learn something of value today? Do let us know in the comments section below.