How to Prevent Windows 11 from Automatically Waking Up from Sleep (Wake Timers)

There are few things more annoying than putting your Windows 11 PC to sleep at the end of the day, only to find it fully powered on and running the next morning. Sometimes, a PC will even wake up from sleep in the middle of the night, lighting up the room.

This phantom waking is almost always caused by a feature called “Wake Timers.” Wake Timers allow the Windows operating system and specific applications to wake your computer from a sleep state to perform scheduled tasks, such as downloading a major system update or running an automatic antivirus scan.

How to Disable Wake Timers in Windows 11

To stop your computer from turning itself on, you must disable this feature deep within the legacy Control Panel settings.

1. Click the Start button, type Control Panel, and press Enter to open it.
2. Change the “View by” setting in the top right corner from Category to Large icons.
3. Click on Power Options.
4. Look at your currently selected power plan (the one with the filled-in circle next to it) and click the Change plan settings link on the right.
5. On the next screen, click Change advanced power settings. A small window will pop up.
6. Scroll down the list and click the small plus (+) sign next to Sleep to expand it.
7. Click the plus sign next to Allow wake timers.
8. Change the setting from “Enable” (or “Important Wake Timers Only”) to Disable.
   • Note: If you are using a laptop, you will see two options: “On battery” and “Plugged in”. Change both of them to Disable.
9. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Your Windows 11 PC is now strictly forbidden from waking itself up to perform automated tasks. It will only wake up when you physically press a key on the keyboard, move the mouse, or press the power button.