Windows sleeps while apps active...

Have you checked the settings in powecfg.cpl?

To make sure your potential power states are understood, please run this command and post the results

Code:

PowerCfg -a

The result of particular interest is whether you have S3 Sleep or S0 Modern standby [aka S0 Low power idle].

If you do have S3 Sleep then, purely as a workaround while you consider what I've written below, you can manually change your Power options when you are doing particular tasks or when you are expecting an update to install.

If you do have S3 Sleep then there are commands to add specific applications to the list of those that prevent sleep taking place.
You can get basic information about the relevant function by entering this in an elevated cmd prompt or PS window

Code:

POWERCFG /REQUESTS /?

This is the most straightforward explanation of this command that I've found
Power Availability Requests - EightForumsTutorials
There might be differences in Windows 10 and you might find some useful examples of the current syntax for the command in these discussions & examples for the related command powercfg -requestsoverride in powercfg -requestsoverride ditties - TenForums [unlike your aim of preventing sleep, overrides aim to allow sleep].


All the best,
Denis

56Kruiser said:

So, I'll do research to determine how to except the apps of concern.
That being said, I have 1 question: If I except an app, lets say Macrium Reflect: If it is open but not active will it still be excepted?

I expect so because you will exempt its main process [its main C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\Reflect.exe file] rather than any particular activity. But you are breaking new ground so I'm hoping you'll tell the rest of us.
There'd be nothing to stop you experimenting with exempting some of its other .exe files to see what happens but perhaps it would be simpler to just assume that if Reflect.exe is running that you are either doing a backup or are about to start one.
I have not had to do this myself for a decade. I used to have to exempt WMP using a PowerCfg command so that the computer would not sleep while it was in use on battery power and I discovered that, without any cleverness on my part, it kept the computer awake while WMP was playing yet allowed sleep again once it had finished playing. This was exactly what I'd wanted but I never really understood how it could tell the difference.

As you'll have seen in that confusing powercfg -requestsoverride thread, that was also new ground for most of us and we had to inch our way through whilst bouncing ideas off each other. And do please remember that I only posted that link because I expect the syntax of the powercfg -requests command you need to us to be the same as the syntax of the powercfg -requestsoverride command.

You can bounce ideas off me if you like. I do have Macrium reflect installed on two computers so I can follow through with the same actions as you.
But what backup utility were you talking about in your OP?

By the way, I don't let my computer go to sleep in my normal working Power options. I have to rely on remembering I'm on battery to avoid unnecessary power drain. This means that I have not had to consider your predicament before.


All the best,
Denis

Oh dear, I've mentioned PowerCfg without adding one essential warning.

If you want to list power plan properties, always use the poorly documented -qh switch not just -q
- qh includes hidden properties.
- There appears to have been no logic used in deciding which properties are hidden and which are not.
- My WMP example above had to act on hidden properties so without knowing about -qh I could not have got the job done.

Power Policy Configuration and Deployment in Windows dated 21st October 2010 said:

By default, the PowerCfg -Query command displays only settings that do not have the hidden attribute set. To display all power settings, including hidden power settings, use PowerCfg -QH (query hidden).

A current download link for that document is Power Policy Configuration and Deployment in Windows dated 21st October 2010 but not all of it is valid. Personally, I still find it useful once in a while because of its explanations of the various power properties.

I've dug out my old PowerCfg command for WMP.
- It was, I can see now, a general command not a WMP-specific one.
- It told Windows to accept requests to stay on from all applications not just WMP.
- It had the desired effect. I could play selected tracks in WMP and the computer would only go to sleep after the playlist completed. So I was not draining my battery every night just for the sake of half an hour's going to sleep audio.
- I do not know if the same command would have the same effect now. Perhaps powercfg -requests & powercfg -requestsoverride have replaced the property I set with more specific ones [I have not investigated]. MS have never updated or replaced the reference documents I was able to use in those days, such as the one I've given you a download link for.
The [Admin] command was a single line but I've posted it over several lines for legibility

Code:

POWERCFG 
-SETDCVALUEINDEX {the AC entry was already set at 1, Yes, by default}
a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a {this was the GUID of my old power plan}
238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20  {Sub-Group GUID for Sleep}
a4b195f5-8225-47d8-8012-9d41369786e2 {Sub-Group GUID for Allow system required policy}
1 {This value means Yes}

- The entry is still reported by PowerCfg -qh and, for Windows 10, its default value for both AC & DC is 1 {Yes}. But I do not know if Windows bothers reading & acting upon that property any more; all I know is that it did in Windows 7.



All the best,
Denis