Windows 11 Screensaver / Display Sleep functions not working

I should have reported this back sooner, but it completely slipped my mind.

Do you have any RGB lights on your system and, if so, how do you control them? I had this exact same issue occur and what I found was that a piece of software, controlling the RGB lights on my system, was preventing the system from going into sleep. What I had to do was to completely uninstal the controller software, set up the screen saver / timeout parameters, and then reinstall the controller software.

The way I discovered the issue was by using msconfig to disable all startup apps (except Microsoft/Windows ones) and then restart them one by one until the issue reveals its ugly head. Unfortunately, this can be a long and tedious task, but if you're lucky, as I was, you'll find the offending app quite quickly. There shouldn't be a need to system restart after starting each app, unless they are a service or require a service to run; I would leave these apps until the end, as long as you know which ones they are.

Remember. Once you have disabled them all, AND RESTARTED YOUR SYSTEM, you need to reset the screen saver timers (I would set it to1 minute during the testing phase) and only then start each disabled program/app in turn.

I hope this helps.

I had the same experience as DavidHasko. I'm running Windows 11 Pro 22H2 pre-installed on a mini-PC.

I had no problems with the screen and computer not turning off and going to sleep when I used a Logitech keyboard and mouse with a Unifying receiver.

I decided to swap the Logitech keyboard/mouse with an older Microsoft wireless multimedia keyboard/mouse that uses a USB wireless optical desktop receiver 2.1. The MS keyboard/mouse/USB receiver worked fine on a Windows 10 computer. However, when used with my Windows 11 PC, the computer stopped going into screensaver mode and sleeping.

I was about to buy another Logitech keyboard/mouse when I looked under Settings > Windows Update > Driver Updates and saw a few optional updates (This is with the MS keyboard/mouse/receiver plugged in). I updated all of them and saw afterward it installed a couple of Microsoft HIDClass device drivers and a Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Detection Driver (USB). After the update, the screensaver and sleep mode started working with the MS keyboard/mouse/receiver as they did with the Logitech keyboard/mouse.

This is what worked for me. Microsoft wireless keyboard. Using Windows Update, installed the optional drivers, which included the Microsoft HID class drivers. Voila!

I followed your advice and disabled all my startup apps and my screensaver started working. I turned them on one by one and tested the screensaver after turning each one of them on and discovered it was the NZXT Cam software for my AIO that was causing it. Tried updating it and even tried a beta version and none of them worked, they kept the screensaver from coming on each time. This is a windows 11 issue, cause, the software worked fine in windows 10. Just wanted to thank you for the instructions, I've been trying to fix this for weeks now to no avail unitl now, so, thank you!

I followed your advice and disabled all my startup apps and my screensaver started working. I turned them on one by one and tested the screensaver after turning each one of them on and discovered it was the NZXT Cam software for my AIO that was causing it. Tried updating it and even tried a beta version and none of them worked, they kept the screensaver from coming on each time. This is a windows 11 issue, cause, the software worked fine in windows 10. Just wanted to thank you for the instructions, I've been trying to fix this for weeks now to no avail unitl now, so, thank you!

You're more than welcome.

It's a shame that Windows 11 changed certain things significantly from Windows 10, but then again, if it hadn't, it would probably have been called Windows 10+. Anyway. I'm glad you figured out what it was but I'm afraid this is something that NZXT will need to sort. If you report it to them directly, they may have a BETA driver for you to try, or at least be aware of the issue and let you know that they're working on it. It's always worth a go.

Also, make sure you check the optional downloads under Windows Update. Sometimes there are driver updates which don't install unless you specifically tell it to.

This solution is like getting divorced and re-married because you wanted to forget about an argument. I cannot believe there's not a simpler fallback solution than basically reinstalling Windows. C'mon.