Do you want to know what happens when you close the lid on your laptop? You are on the right spot to know the answer of this question.
Surely it has ever happened to you that you had a pending download, a rendering in progress or any process that required leaving the PC on and, when you closed the lid, it stayed suspended.
Table of Contents
What Happens when you Close the LID on your Laptop
What possibilities do operating systems give us when closing the lid of the computer? Essentially, we can perform the following actions:
- Do nothing: This is the option that interests us in this article. Actually, “something” will happen, since the screen will turn off, but the point is that the computer will continue to function normally.
- Lay off: This is usually the default action that occurs on modern operating systems. When we do this, the RAM memory is kept powered, this means that we will be able to restore the system state exactly as we left it very quickly. But of course, while the computer is suspended, no task can be performed, the RAM will be “frozen”.
- Hibernate: This goes a step further than suspend, as it saves the contents of RAM to the hard drive, and proceeds to shut down the computer completely. When it is turned on again, the previous state of the computer will be restored by accessing the file on the disk that contains the copy of RAM.
- To turn off: It is rare, but it may also be the case that when we close the computer screens it turns off automatically. And it is that when closing the laptop screen it is not normally that it turns off, but it is a more colloquial way of saying “suspend”.
As we say, our objective is that we go from shutting down or suspending the computer by closing the lid, to simply doing nothing and being able to carry out the relevant tasks on the PC without any restrictions.
How to make the laptop screen not turn off when closing in Windows 7, 10, 11…?
To achieve this, you must reach the relevant settings menu. The truth is that in Windows 11 there is still no section to change this in the new configuration menu, but there is in the old one.
See Also: Why Cheap Refurbished Computers are so Worthy
The easy way to get where we want is to search for “close the lid” in the search menu, and go to “Change the action that occurs when closing the lid of the equipment”.
Another way is to look for the Control Panel (yes, the traditional one), and from there go to System and Security, then Power Options, then « Choose the behavior of closing the lid ».
There, what you are going to change will be “When closing the lid”. You can differentiate between what happens when your computer is not plugged in (“On Battery”) and when it’s plugged into power (“On AC Power”). We are going to choose “Do nothing” in both and Save the changes.
Problems that can arise when changing the Laptop screen
Please note that changing the action that occurs when closing the lid may have some “negative consequences”. But don’t worry, we are going to explain what you should do so that they don’t happen.
-
Beware of Suspension times
You already know how to close the laptop screen so that it doesn’t turn off… immediately. However, computers usually have a set idle time after which the computer will go to sleep.
So even if you can get closing the lid to prevent your computer from going to sleep or shutting down, this could still happen if you don’t use it again within a few minutes. This is devastating if you need your computer active for many hours.
You’ve already done the most important thing and what this tutorial was about, but we don’t want to upset you. So let’s see how to avoid suspending the computer after inactivity. From the Power Options menu, go to Change how often the computer goes to sleep.
See Also: What Computer Specs Do I need for Programming
There, you will be able to choose (both for the PC charging and on battery power) when to put the PC to sleep after inactivity.
-
Protect your Privacy and Lock your Computer
When the computer resumes from sleep, it always asks to log in again. On the other hand, if we configure it to do nothing when closing the lid, the session will not be automatically locked.
Therefore, after changing this setting, if you don’t lock your PC before closing the lid, anyone can use your computer. Remember this keyboard shortcut to lock the PC session easily: Windows + L
“Before closing the lid, press the Windows key and the L key to lock the computer.”
-
Remember that the Computer Sleeps to Save Power
Finally, we would like to remind you that the purpose of putting the PC to sleep by closing the lid is energy saving.
See Also: Gaming Peripherals for Beginners
It does not make much sense that, if you are not going to do anything, the computer continues to work. It will spend battery and electricity of your home without it being necessary.
Our recommendation is that if you disable sleep time and lid close action, you should manually sleep your computer when you are not going to use it for a long time.
An interesting option is that, in the Windows settings, you configure the shutdown button to suspend the PC. There is also usually a keyboard shortcut to suspend it on laptops.
Also remember that if you have an external display connected, you can continue to use it normally with the lid closed.
We hope that you found what you were looking for in our tutorial, so that you no longer have problems closing the lid of your computer.
Remember that, if you have any questions or concerns, you can leave us your comments or go to our hardware forum to receive support.
Zahid Khan Jadoon is an Interior Decorator, Designer and a specialized Chef and loves to write about home appliances and food. Right now he is running his interior designing business along with a managing a restaurant. Also in his spare time he loves to write about home and kitchen appliances.