Need to make Windows sleep automatically at a specific time or event? Here’s a way to schedule Windows to sleep at a specific time.
In Windows, you can put the system into sleep mode when you are not using the system. When you put the system in a sleep state, Windows saves the current system state to RAM or system memory. As long as you don’t completely power off the system, you can resume from the current state whenever you want. One of the benefits of putting the system to sleep is that you conserve electricity and have quick access to the system as and when needed.
Starting from Windows 8, Microsoft is using Hybrid Sleep in all supported systems. As you can guess from the name itself, Hybrid Sleep is an enhanced version where both Sleep and Hibernation are combined. In Hybrid Sleep mode, the Windows state is saved to both system memory and the hard disk. So, even if you completely power off the system, you can resume the system, just like with Hibernation. With Hybrid Sleep, you’ll get the best of both worlds.
If you want to put Windows to sleep at a specific time or on a specific event, you can use a bit of magic with the task scheduler to achieve the purpose. Let me show you how.
Make Windows Sleep At Specific Time
To make Windows sleep at a specific time, there is no proper built-in method. For instance, we can use the SetSuspendState command. However, that specific command hibernates the system, if the hibernation is enabled. So, if you want to put Windows to sleep on schedule using that command, you first need to disable hibernation. As you can guess, this is not the most elegant way to do things.
Thankfully, I found a neat tool called PsShutdown that makes the job much easier and better. PsShutdown is a free Microsoft SysInternals tool. Being a command-line tool, it works flawlessly with the task scheduler. Yes, we are going to use the awesome task scheduler yet again to get the job done. Just follow the steps as is and you will be done in no time.
Steps to Follow
1. First, download PsShutdown from Microsoft’s official website. After downloading, open the ZIP and extract the psshutdown.exe file in it to a folder of your choice.
2. Once you have the file, open the “Task Scheduler” application by searching in the start menu.
3. In the task scheduler, click on the “Create basic task” option to create a scheduled task.
4. Name the task anything you want. Just make sure that the name is something descriptive. Click “Next”.
5. I want to make Windows sleep daily at a specific time. So, I’m selecting the “Daily” option. If you need something else, feel free to choose the relevant option. Click “Next”.
6. Depending on what you choose in the last step, you might see a different screen. Configure the settings as needed. Like me, if you want to put Windows to sleep every day at a specific time, just change the time accordingly and click “Next“. Also, make sure the “Recur every” is set 1. That way, the task runs every day.
7. Select “Start a program” option. That way, we can use the download PsShutdown application.
8. Here, click the “Browse” button, find the psshutdown.exe file, select it and click the “Open” button to add it to the task scheduler. Next, add -d -t 0 -accepteula in the Arguments field. Click “Next“.
9. Click “Finish“.
10. We need to make sure the command is working as it should. So, find the task we just created in the task scheduler’s main window. Next, right-click on it and select the “Run” option.
If the command is correct, your system should immediately go into the sleep state.
That is it. From now on, according to the scheduled task, the system will be automatically put into sleep.
I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, do check out how to wake Windows from sleep with keyboard or mouse.