How to make a shortcut to put windows 10 in sleep mode

I would like to have a shortcut to put my computer to sleep or, is it Windows? ( like the option in Start button> Power)

How can I make that shortcut?

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Instead of creating a shortcut, here’s an easier way to put your computer into sleep mode: Press Windows key + X, followed by U, then S to sleep.

We hope this helps.

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Thanks John, it really solved my problem. And quickly, too.

Now, if there were a way to «Wake up» from sleep with a shortcut, too.

what do you think?

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I appreciate your sharing.

I can’t wake up my computer by hitting a key or moving the mouse. I tried it. I have to push the start button on the computer tower to awaken it.

Maybe I need to do a settings tweak but couldn’t find where or how.

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I did go to properties on the Device Manager and clicked on the «Use mouse for wake up» check box.

It works only when the computer goes asleep on its own, after the time allotted but not when put to sleep using Windows Key+ ‘X’ and then ‘U’ follow by ‘S’.

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How can I configure a native Windows 10 keyboard shortcut for Sleep? [duplicate]

I often need to quickly put my Windows 10 computer to sleep in my shared office at work, so what is a keyboard shortcut to put the computer to sleep? Ideally, I want a built-in shortcut, or one that can be configured with native Microsoft Windows features without installing any third-party applications.

Virtually the same question has already been asked (What is the hotkey to put my Windows to sleep?), but that poster accepted an answer that involved 3rd-party software, which I would prefer to avoid (less crud on my systems). Moreover, some answers involved a long series of up and down and backwards arrow keys (kind of like a video game cheat code), which is not my idea of a keyboard shortcut, especially when the sequence varies depending on a computer’s particular configuration (e.g. works on my desktop with hibernation disabled, but not on my laptop where the hibernation option requires memorizing a different sequence).

Since it seems that Microsoft doesn’t offer a built-in shortcut, could someone please perhaps explain how to create one for sleep without 3rd party tools?

3 Answers 3

The following command will immediately send Windows to hibernation, so long as that is enabled (it is recommended against using hibernation for machines with the OS on an SSD).

Alternatively, here is a post with the same question and more options: How can I put the computer to sleep from Command Prompt/Run menu?

Using @MikeC answer:

• create a file named, for example soft-shutdown.bat wherever you want.
• open this file and paste shutdown -h in it. (right click on the file, and choose Edit , and then paste)
• right click on the it, and Create Shortcut
• right click on the shortcut, select properties
• in the shortcut key field, press the combination you want.

I’m not aware of how to bind a shortcut to run a file, I just know how to bind a shortcut to a shortcut file, which is bounded to a file.

Create a new shortcut in a safe location: Right-click > New > Shortcut.

For the location of the item enter: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 00

That’s the Shutdown program, followed by the Sleep argument, and the Time Zero Seconds argument which means it’ll happen right away.

Click Next.

Change the name of the shortcut if you wish and click Finish.

Right-click on the newly created shortcut and click in the Shortcut key: field.

All Shortcut Keys begin with CTRL—ALT, so just tap the SINGLE letter you want the Shortcut Key to end with. For instance, tap «S» and your keyboard shortcut will be CTRL—ALT—S.

Using this shortcut key should now put your computer to sleep right away.

UPDATE: I was wrong on the shutdown arguments

As Ochado pointed out, shutdown -s shuts the computer down, which is entirely NOT what they wanted.

The shutdown command does not actually have an argument to sleep the computer. Hibernate is more of a combination of shutdown and sleep.

To actually sleep the computer using a command which can be put into a shortcut and assigned a keyboard command, you have to disable hibernation, and then use a different set of commands.

First, disable hibernate by running powercfg -hibernate off

Now, create a shortcut as I specify above, but use the command rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0 instead of the shutdown command previously (erroneously) specified.

Now follow the rest of the steps in the above section to create a keyboard shortcut for this.

Create Your Own Windows 10 Sleep Mode Shortcut

Placing a Windows 10 sleep mode shortcut on your desktop or taskbar can help you to squeeze more battery hours out of your laptop. Or, if you’re working with a desktop computer, you can use it to put the computer in a standby state with one click of your mouse whenever you’re taking a break. Windows 10 sleep mode has the advantage that your computer can resume faster to your last working state when compared to a complete system shutdown.

Indeed, sleep mode will put your computer in an energy-saving state while preserving your current working environment, complete with open documents and active program windows. This allows you to quickly resume where you left off when you “wake up” your computer.

The Windows 10 Sleep Mode Shortcut

Windows 10 already has a sleep mode “icon” on the start menu so you might be wondering why you would need an extra desktop (or taskbar) shortcut. The truth is, you don’t *need* another Windows 10 sleep mode shortcut, but being able to invoke sleep mode with one single click on a taskbar icon that’s always sitting there within reach simply “smoothyfies” the process.

In the image below you can see how you would normally have to click the Windows start button (1), then click the power item (2) and then select “sleep” from the menu (3) in order to make your computer go to sleep. Being able to do the same in one single click is just a tiny bit nicer plus you avoid accidently clicking the wrong menu item (“shutdown” is just right below “sleep” in the start menu) and the frustration that comes with it.

The image also shows my “shutdown” shortcut (indicated with the arrow), which I also always use if I do want a complete shutdown rather than sleep mode. (You can read how to create a shutdown shortcut as well in my Windows shutdown shortcut article in the computer tips and tricks articles.)

Ok so let’s take a look at how you can create your own sleep mode shortcut. To get started, right-click with your mouse on an empty spot on your desktop and select “new” and then “shortcut”.

Windows will then come with the “Create shortcut” dialog, in which you enter the following line, exactly as shown in the image (you can copy the text below the image and paste that in your dialog input box).

Then click next.

Now Windows will want you to enter a name for the shortcut.

Enter “Sleep” or whatever you feel describes your new shortcut best and click finish.

You’ll now have a new sleep shortcut icon sitting on your desktop, but it might look a bit boring.

Let’s try and find a more suitable icon for your new Windows 10 sleep mode shortcut. Right-click on the icon and select “Properties” from the menu.

In the properties dialog box of your sleep shortcut, click the “Change icon” button to go to the icon properties.

In the icon properties dialog box, click the browse button to proceed.

Then, in the “Change icon” open file dialog box, enter the following in the file name field:

Select an icon to represent your Windows 10 sleep mode shortcut from the list and click ok. Click ok a second time to close the icon properties window.

Your icon will now look better than the default, blank new icon image that was originally selected.

You can finish your work by right-clicking your new sleep icon and selecting “Pin to taskbar” from the menu.

Now you’ll have your own Windows 10 sleep mode shortcut on your taskbar which you can use to put your computer in sleep mode with one click of the mouse.

Computer Hibernating?

Depending on your settings you may find that your sleep mode shortcut causes your computer to go in hibernation mode rather than into sleep mode.

In order to change that behavior, open up an elevated command prompt (click the link if you don’t know how to do open an elevated command prompt) and type the following command in the command prompt:

powercfg -hibernate off

and then press ENTER.

That should do the trick and now your sleep shortcut should work properly!

Edit: I’ve received a few comments below from people who reported that their shortcut didn’t work. There’s also an alternate approach with Sysinternal’s psshutdown utility that you can try. I’ve now written a separate Windows 10 sleep shortcut article about that, which you can also check out (also for free, of course).

If you enjoyed this article (or my other one), please click the like button below or leave a short comment. I appreciate it, thank you.

If you’ve enjoyed this article or found it useful, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know by clicking the Like (or Share) button below. Thank you!

Windows 10: Shut Down Or Enable Sleep Mode With Keyboard Shortcut

How to create a keyboard shortcut for Windows 10 Sleep Mode?

Wouldn’t it be great to shut down your computer by just a hand waving gesture or use our finger like a magic wand and utter the words “Finishio”, and the computer shuts down? Unfortunately, we don’t live in the world of Harry Potter, and there are no Dumbledores who can do that. So, do we have to stick to the regular process of moving our mouse cursor, clicking on the start button and then confirming from a list of options what we exactly need to do- Sleep or Shutdown?

The answer to that question is a big “NO”. We can definitely shorten the process by using a few keyboard shortcuts, which when used frequently, gets stored into the muscle memory and the action is completed within less than a second.

How to Shutdown Windows 10 and Enable Sleep Mode with a Keyboard Shortcut

To shutdown Windows 10 or enable Sleep mode on your system, you can either use the keyboard shortcuts inculcated into the Windows 10 operating system by Microsoft itself or create a new one. The first two methods explain using the default shortcut, and the third method describes the steps on how you can create a customized shortcut.

Method 1. Use the keyboard via the Power Menu

One of the quick and simple ways to shutdown Windows 10 through the keyboard shortcut is by pressing a sequence of keys. It is an inbuilt Windows setting. and you don’t have to make any changes to your computer.

Press the Windows + X on your keyboard to activate the power menu.

The Power Menu contains a list of commonly used Windows in-built apps and functions, which contain an underline beneath a letter. This letter denotes the letter which can be pressed to initiate an app or a function. Press U on the keyboard to initiate the ShutDown or Sign Out function, and it will provide more options which also can be brought into action with the corresponding underlined letter.

Sign Out	I
Sleep	S
Hibernate	H
Shut Down	U
Restart	R

The complete path to shutting down Windows 10 using keyboard shortcut would be

Windows + X > U > U

Similarly, the Windows 10 Sleep Shortcut would be Windows + X > U > S

This way, by pressing only four keys, you can put Windows 10 into Sleep Mode using keyboard shortcuts only.

Method 2: Use Alt + F4 for Windows 10 Sleep Shortcut

The combination of Alt + F4 is used to shut down an open window. When you press Alt and F4 together from the keyboard it closes the active window that is in focus. If you want to close another application, then you need to select that application through the Alt + Tab keys and then press Alt + F4. However, if you are wondering how to shutdown Windows 10 through this method then either you can close all the open applications and arrive at the desktop wallpaper or simply press Win + D for desktop and then press Alt + F4. With no active application window in focus, the Windows Shutdown dialog box will appear on the screen.

The Windows shutdown dialog box contains a dropdown menu with Six options, namely Switch User, Sign Out, Sleep, Hibernate, Shut Down and Restart. The Shutdown option is generally selected by default, and if you wish the computer to go into the Windows 10 sleep mode, then you can use the arrow keys to navigate, select your preferred option and hit the enter key.

This is another method of initializing the Windows 10 sleep mode through keyboard shortcuts.

Method 3: Create a Windows 10 sleep shortcut

After having searched through the entire Windows operating system and going through the official Windows 10 forums, it is concluded that there is no shortcut created to activate Windows 10 sleep Mode. Hence, I decided to create a keyboard shortcut that would act as a Windows sleep shortcut. Follow the steps mentioned below to create a shortcut:

Step 1. Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and from the contextual menu, choose New and then Shortcut.

Step 2. A new window will open. The first page on this window would require entering the command line to initiate a specific process. You can copy the command line from below and paste it in the space available and then click on Next.

Shut Down: shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f

Note: The zeros denote the number of seconds which if increased, will act as a wait time before the computer shutdowns.

Sleep: rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

Step 3. The next window will require you to label your shortcut. Click on Finish and a shortcut icon will be created on your desktop.

A double click on this icon will shutdown or activate the Windows 10 sleep mode depending on the command you have pasted in the shortcut window. However, that defeats the purpose of creating a keyboard shortcut to shutdown windows or make it enter the sleep mode. To make this shortcut function via keyboard strokes, follow these steps:

Step 4. Right-click on the new shortcut created, and choose Properties from the contextual menu.

Step 5. Locate the Shortcut tab in the new window and click on it. In the text box next to Shortcut, you can type a combination of keys that would activate this shortcut and that in turn would act the command line mentioned.

Note: You need to be careful to pick a combination not currently used by another application. Also, make sure that the chosen combination cannot be activated accidentally because you wouldn’t want your computer to shut down in the middle of something important.

Step 6. Click on Ok and your shortcut will be ready.

Your thoughts on How to Shutdown Windows 10 and Enable Windows 10 Sleep Mode with a Keyboard Shortcut.

Most of us use the mouse to perform certain actions on our computer not because it is easy to do so but it is the only way we know. You would not find many people using Keyboard Shortcuts to shutdown Windows 10 or activate the Windows 10 Sleep Mode. Pressing a combination of keys is always quicker than dragging your mouse to the start button and clicking thrice to shut down your PC. A simple default combination such as Win + X + U + U or Alt + F4 or something you set by following method 3 is always easier and convenient.

Do share your thoughts on using the Keyboards shortcuts instead of the mouse. Keep Visiting WeTheGeek for more such tech-related content. Also, subscribe to our Facebook Channel and Youtube Channel for interesting tech-related articles.

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