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Guide · 4-minute read

Windows 11 screen turns off after 1 minute: how to fix it

If the screen goes dark about a minute after you lock the PC (Windows key + L), that is the lock screen's own display timeout. It is 60 seconds by default, and the "Turn off my screen after" setting does not change it. A powercfg command sets it longer. If the screen goes dark while you are signed in, check your power timeout, then the screen saver, then any work policy.

Sources checked Saturday, 26 September 20264 min readBy Soubhik Biswas
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Fix the lock-screen timeout in 5 steps

This works on Windows 11 and Windows 10. Microsoft describes the 60-second timer as by design (Microsoft Learn: Monitor powers off when computer is locked, checked 26 September 2026).

0 of 5 done

  1. Step 1 · Open an administrator terminal

    Next upStart (right-click) › Terminal (Admin)

    On Windows 10 the same menu item is Windows PowerShell (Admin).

  2. Step 2 · Set the timeout for plugged-in power

    Terminal (Admin)

    Run powercfg.exe /setacvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_VIDEO VIDEOCONLOCK 600 to set 10 minutes. The number is in seconds, so pick your own.

  3. Step 3 · Set the timeout for battery power

    Terminal (Admin)

    On a laptop, run the same command with /setdcvalueindex in place of /setacvalueindex.

  4. Step 4 · Apply the change

    Terminal (Admin)

    Run powercfg.exe /setactive SCHEME_CURRENT. Until you do, Windows keeps the old value.

  5. Step 5 · Check that it stuck

    Windows key + L

    Lock the PC and time how long the screen stays on. If it lasts longer than a minute, the fix worked.

If you prefer a menu, Microsoft's article also shows how to add this setting, "Console lock display off timeout", to Advanced power settings.

If the setting is greyed out or managed

If Settings shows "Some of these settings are managed by your organization", or your changes revert after a restart, the timeout comes from a work or school policy. On a managed PC, your organisation can set the timeout and lock the setting. Only your IT team can change it, so ask them. The work laptop page covers what a browser tab can and cannot do on a managed PC.

Fix a 1-minute power setting

If the screen goes dark while you are signed in and working, check this first. Windows keeps one screen timeout for battery and one for plugged in, and either may be set to 1 minute.

  1. Open Settings > System > Power & battery.
  2. Expand Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts. On older Windows 11 builds this section is called Screen and sleep.
  3. Set both "turn off my screen" choices, on battery and when plugged in, to the length you want.

On Windows 10 the same choices are in Settings > System > Power & sleep. If the battery value keeps coming back short, check Energy saver on the same page (Battery saver before Windows 11 24H2).

Check the screen saver

A blank screen saver with a 1-minute wait looks exactly like the display turning off.

  1. Open Settings > Personalization > Lock screen and choose Screen saver.
  2. Set it to (None), or raise Wait above your screen timeout.
  3. Note the On resume, display logon screen box. It decides whether you sign in again afterwards, which is a separate question covered in lock screen versus display sleep.

Confirm what is happening

  • Run powercfg /query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_VIDEO to see your current display timeouts. Values are shown in seconds, written in hexadecimal: 0x3c is 60.
  • Run powercfg /requests in an administrator terminal. The DISPLAY section lists every app that is asking Windows to keep the screen on. If it is empty, nothing is. While AwakeTab holds the screen on, the browser shows up there.

We have not recorded whether a browser's request keeps the display on at the lock screen, so use the powercfg fix for that case. For the full Windows walk-through, see keep the screen on in Windows 11.

Try it hereOr skip the settings: open AwakeTabIf you can't change a timeout, a visible browser tab can hold the display on while you are signed in. In Chrome or Edge, AwakeTab asks Windows to keep the display on, and the pill says "Screen awake" once the browser grants it. It does not touch the lock-screen timeout, so use the powercfg fix for that. Ends at … if you start now.Start a 1-hour session

Questions

Run the same powercfg command with 60 as the number of seconds, then run the /setactive command again. That puts back the Windows default. Use /setdcvalueindex as well if you also changed the value for battery power.

Soubhik Biswas · Builds AwakeTab. Sources checked Saturday, 26 September 2026. About AwakeTab