Home » How To » How to Wake from Sleep on Schedule in Windows 10

How to Wake from Sleep on Schedule in Windows 11 & 10

Want to automatically wake your Windows system from sleep at a specific time? You can do it easily using the Task Scheduler. Here’s how:

Putting your Windows system to sleep is simple: just select “Sleep” from the Start menu or Power User menu. If needed, you also put Windows to sleep on schedule. To wake it up, you can either use the keyboard and mouse or press the power button. But what if you need your computer to wake up automatically at a specific time? For example, maybe to start a download, run a full system scan, or perform another task.

For these kinds of use cases, Windows has a built-in feature called Wake Timers that allows applications to wake your computer. We can schedule this functionality using the Task Scheduler.

In this quick and straightforward tutorial, I’ll show you how to configure Task Scheduler to automatically wake Windows from sleep on a schedule. Let’s get started.

Before You Begin (Enable Wake Timers)

Important Note: For your system to wake automatically, the Wake Timers should be enabled. Follow the below steps to enable it:

  1. Press the Start menu.
  2. Search and open “Control Panel“.
  3. Click “View by” on the top-right corner and select “Large icons“.
  4. Select “Power Options“.
  5. Click the “Change plan settings” link next to your active power plan.
  6. Click the “Change advanced power settings” option.
  7. Expand the “Sleep” > “Allow Wake Timers” option.
  8. Select “Enabled” from the “Setting” dropdown under “Allow Wake Timers”.
  9. Click “OK“.
  10. Close Control Panel.

Good to know: How to put Windows to sleep with the keyboard shortcut

Steps To Automatically Wake Windows From Sleep on Schedule

Follow these steps to configure Task Scheduler to automatically wake Windows from sleep on schedule at a specific date and time:

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Search and open “Task Scheduler“.
  3. Click the “Create basic task” option.
  4. Type a name in the “Name” field and click “Next“.
  5. Select when to start the task and click “Next“.
  6. Set the date, time, & recurring frequency and click “Next“.
  7. Choose “Start a program” and click “Next“.
  8. Type “notepad.exe” in the “Program/Script” field and click “Next“.
  9. Select the “Open properties dialog for this task when I click Finish” checkbox.
  10. Click “Finish“.
  11. Go to the “Conditions” tab.
  12. Select the “Wake the computer to run this task” checkbox.
  13. Click “OK“.
  14. With that, you’ve configured the Task Scheduler to wake the PC from sleep on schedule.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

First, open the Task Scheduler. To do that, open the Start menu, search for “Task Scheduler” and click “Open”. Once it opens, click the “Create Basic Task” option on the right panel.

click create basic task in task scheduler

Now, type a name of your choice in the “Name” field and click the “Next” button. This is the name that Windows uses for the scheduled task. So, keep it short but descriptive.

name the task and click next

Now, select when you’d like the task to run and click “Next“. In my case, I just want the task to run once. So, I selected “One time”.

set schedule

Depending on the option you selected in the earlier step, this screen will be different. In my case, it is asking me to set the date and time. If you select “Daily”, “Weekly”, or “Monthly”, it will ask for the date, time, and additionally, the recurring frequency. Configure it appropriately and click “Next“.

configure schedule to wake Windows from sleep automatically

Select the “Start a program” option and click the “Next” button.

select start a program

Now, type “notepad.exe” in the “Program/Script” field and click “Next“.

Explanation: In case you are wondering, this task launches the Notepad application. So, why do we do it? It’s because Windows needs something significant to trigger a wake timer. So, we are opening an application.

set task program

In the final screen, select the “Open properties dialog for this task when I click Finish” checkbox and click the “Finish” button.

select checkbox to open task properties

In the Properties window, go to the “Conditions” tab, select the “Wake the computer to run this task” checkbox, and click “OK“. This makes sure that the task wakes your computer from sleep to run the task.

select wake from sleep checkbox

Close the Task Scheduler window and you are done.

That is it. From now on, Windows will wake from sleep automatically on schedule at a specific date and time.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.

Good to know: How to find what is waking your system from sleep

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