Windows 10 PC goes to lock screen after 2 minutes

Anonymous
2018-01-08T18:24:24+00:00

Screen saver set at 15 minutes, yet after 2 minutes of inactivity display goes blank requiring "enter" to get lock screen . I must always move my mouse to stay "active." Can't seem to find a solution online that works. 

*Modified title for accuracy*

*Original title: Windows 10: PC goes to lock screen after 2 minutes*

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2018-11-14T19:39:45+00:00

The setting to fix this is "System unattended sleep timeout" in advanced power settings. (Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings > change advanced power settings).

However this setting is hidden because Microsoft wants waste our time and make our lives miserable. 

To un-hide it, you need to change a registry attribute value data from 1 to 2 at the following registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Power > PowerSettings > 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20 > 7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0

Full instructions:

  1. windows key + R
  2. type regedit and hit enter
  3. click Yes if asked
  4. on registry editor - ctrl+F
  5. search for 7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0
  6. wait, can take a while to find
  7. when found, double click attributes on the right pane
  8. change value data to 2
  9. hit ok, close registry editor.
  10. Right click the start button > power options > Additional power settings > Change Plan Settings > change advanced power settings
  11. expand Sleep
  12. expand System unattended sleep timeout
  13. change both values to zero for never or set your preferred value.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-15T07:10:08+00:00

    i cant find System unattended sleep timeout. help?

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-19T00:12:17+00:00

    Tried ALL the quoted "solutions" but NONE of them work.

    I'm now on build 19041.388 (July 2020)

    As soon as I lock the screen, it goes BLANK way too soon, and definitely not after the 30 minutes I specified. I also tried 0 for "never" but that didn't work either. 

    No big deal - better to kick in too early than too late or never ;o)

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-28T12:45:31+00:00

    Lots of good solution options here.  There are WAY too many settings related to power and sleep in too many areas within Windows.  Although I was having the same situation, my problem came from a different source.  I'm hoping this helps somebody.

    We just got some new Dell Precision laptops.  Dell is now installing a Dell Optimizer application.  Part of that application includes a proximity sensor to detect when you are away to lock the screen then detect your presence to wake the computer up.  By default, it will lock your PC after 1 minute, no matter what the Windows settings are.  I disabled this and my problem went away.

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    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2020-08-03T15:06:13+00:00

    @DSully1, 

    Thanks for the reply this resolved the issue for one of my users, thanks again!!!

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