Stop Windows going to sleep
What it does
A computer that is asleep counts nothing, and only a key press or mouse movement wakes it. The installer sets Windows to never sleep and never hibernate while plugged in. If the row reads Off, something has changed that setting since — often a new power plan or a Windows update.
In the app: Never goes to sleep
The quickest way
In ANPR Edge, go to Support, press "How this computer is set up" and tick "Never goes to sleep". Windows will ask for permission. The steps below do the same by hand.
Set sleep to Never
- 1Open Start › Settings › System › Power & battery (on Windows 10: System › Power & sleep).
- 2Open "Screen and sleep".
- 3Set "When plugged in, put my device to sleep after" to Never.
- 4Turning the screen off is fine — it does not stop counting.
Make sure it never hibernates either
Hibernating stops counting just like sleeping does, and the Settings page does not always show it.
- 1Right-click Start and choose "Terminal (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)".
- 2Type: powercfg /change hibernate-timeout-ac 0 and press Enter.
- 3Then type: powercfg /hibernate off and press Enter. This also turns off Fast Startup, which can stop the computer coming back cleanly after a power cut.
These settings belong to the current power plan. If somebody switches to a different plan, sleep can come back — check the app's screen again after any change to power settings or a large Windows update.
Check it worked
- The row in "How this computer is set up" reads On. It only does when both sleep and hibernate are set to never.
Turning it off
Untick the row in the app (this sets sleep back to 30 minutes), or choose a time in Settings › System › Power & battery.
Still need help?
In ANPR Edge, open Support and choose Chat with support, or email [email protected]. Attach the file from Activity & logs › Download Logs — it includes these settings and the Windows records we need.
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