If you are working on your laptop and have to move away for a while, you should put it to sleep ideally. This way you can pick up your work from where you left it, also, it saves electricity and your laptop’s battery. However, if you have to leave your PC for a long duration, it’s not advisable to put it to sleep, in that case, you can schedule a sleep timer shutdown.
Well, in today’s post, we will learn about how you can set a Windows sleep timer to shut down your computer automatically after a certain period. but first, let’s talk about what is sleep mode on Windows 11 PC.
What is Sleep mode in Windows 11 PC
Putting your PC into Sleep mode is similar to pausing a playing DVD. When you put your PC into sleep mode, all the actions happening on your computer stop and move to your RAM, which means your system memory. Your computer is still on but it uses less power in this state. Your work will be resumed once you touch or move your cursor. So, if you are moving away for a longer duration keeping your PC to sleep, it’s better to schedule a sleep timer shutdown. You can read about the different System Sleep States here.
How to set up Windows Sleep Timer Shutdown
You can create a Windows Sleep timer shutdown in your Windows 11/10 PC using the Command Prompt or by creating a Desktop shortcut as follows.
1] Using Command Prompt
- Press Win+R to run the dialog box and type CMD to run Command Prompt.
- Type in the command,
Shutdown -s -t 3000and hit Enter. - Here, -s is giving the command to shut down and -t is the number of seconds, you want it to wait.
- Of course, you can change the timings as per your own requirements.
2] Create a Desktop Shortcut
This method is for someone who wants to use this sleep timer shut down regularly. You can do this simply by creating a desktop shortcut without even opening the Command Prompt.
- This is again a very simple and quick way of creating a sleep timer for your Windows 11 PC.
- Go to your Desktop and right-click anywhere.
- Select New–>Shortcut.
- This will open a new window, type in the command, “Shutdown -s -t 3600″ and click on Next.
- Give the shortcut a name and click on Finish.
- You will get a shortcut on your Desktop as shown in the screenshot below.
You can cancel this sleep shutdown command anytime you want.
- Go to the Desktop and right-click.
- Select New -> Shortcut
- Type in the command below-
- Shutdown -a
- Type the name for this shortcut and click on Finish.
Related tip: If you are using a laptop, make sure to thoroughly understand the Pros and Cons of each Power plan, and then change the Sleep settings.
Does Windows 11 have a sleep timer?
You have to do that manually in Windows 11. Go to Settings > Power & Battery and customize your sleep settings. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut ALT+F4 and select the Sleep option from the menu.
Where is the Sleep button in Windows 11
Click on the Start, go to the power button in the bottom right corner, select Sleep and you are done. Also, you can press Alt+F4 and select the Sleep option from the menu.