No Screensaver after 10 update

I'm freaked to report that 1 of 2 things fixed the screen saver and power management of the displays for me.

1) I uninstalled my Saitek X45 joystick (not just unplugged, but uninstalled the drivers, too)
2) Windows Update installed something that required a reboot to install

I had done the registry stuff mentioned to no avail. I even ran a VBS file to reset the local policy settings to defaults, and still didn't get things working. I tried a few different screen saver settings, just in case, but nothing had worked. I had to manually lock the system or manually preview the screen saver (which doesn't ask for a password when it is cancelled). So, I'm not exactly sure what really fixed it, nor am I sure that everything is activating at the correct times. All I know is that I left it active and on the desktop when I went to bed, and came back to LCDs in power save mode and the lock screen when I moved the mouse to wake everything up.

Yes, I'm pleased to be in the "works for me" crowd. I hope things get fixed where everyone else can be in this crowd, too.

hattrik21 said:

So there is another thread on this issue and it has people unplugging their joysticks from their computers to fix the issue. Well I tried it and HOLY MOLY it fixed my issue as well. I plugged it back in and ran the Windows test on it and I can't see any movement from it so I don't see why it is allowing it to work. I guess for now I'll just have to plug it in when I play games and unplug it when I'm done. The other thread is located here if anyone wants to look through it. Linky

This worked for me as well. See page 6 of this thread.

hattrik21 said:

Emb, just for curious sake if you launch a command prompt with admin privileges and type in powercfg -requests, does it list anything? Make sure all other programs are closed.

Nope, tried that and nothing shows all is well. Seems like we are at least solving some people's problems with various fixes though, that's good news. Sooner or later something will come up that will solve mine and others problem.

First post & thanks to all on here for your various suggestions to date.

I only have the screensaver problem as my display turns off correctly after 15 minutes.

Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop
Upgraded to Windows 10 32-bit from W8.1
Single monitor, 5-button wired mouse, no other attached devices.
Bluetooth off, Wireless on.
No password set to login

Any screensaver set to activate after e.g. 10 minutes - works ok.
Shutdown, wait 15 secs & reboot, now the settings have reverted back to 1 minute default but the screensaver does not activate anyway.

Power Options tested on battery & plugged in. Set to turn off display after 15 minutes - works ok even after rebooting.

Tested with Bluetooth & Wireless On/Off - no change with screensaver.

Checked registry and settings are being saved correctly and retained after a reboot. (Path for 32-bit) HKey_Current_User/Control Panel/Desktop
ScreenSaveActive 1 (on)
ScreenSaverIsSecure 0 (no password required on wake up)
ScreenSaveTimeOut 180 (180 seconds or 3 minutes)
SCRNSAVE C:\Windows\System32\Mystify.scr (screensaver type)

Performed a clean install of Windows 10 32-bit but the problem remains as before.

Carried out the Console lock display time-out fix, set this on battery and plugged in to 30 minutes – it did not fix my screensaver

Regarding the password suggestion - I haven’t tried to assign a password to my account as I don’t want to be stuck with having to input this each time.

Many thanks and keep trying please.

Absolutely gutted to say that mine has randomly stopped working again (screensaver and power saver). Not sure what I do now, but I'm considering failing back to Windows 8.1 because I really only care about DX12 on Windows 10 and nothing else interests me at all.

Considered for a couple of minutes and then thought "what am I doing"!? I'm now happily back on Windows 8.1 and will stay there until a game is released that uses DirectX 12. Hopefully by then it's fixed, as I currently much prefer 8.1 to 10.

Unplugging my saitek x55 joystick fixed it for me

This is what I have done to try and fix the problem with the Windows 10 screen saver issue, i.e. the screen saver defaulting to 1 minute and it will not startup unless you manually change the time it defaults to 1 minute upon bootup again.


1) Added "Console lock display off timeout" This solved the problem of 2 of the 3 computers problems but not the 3rd.

2) Reset: Local Group Policy

3) Ran: chkdsk C: /f /r /x (Came out clean)

4) Ran: sfc /scannow (Came out clean)

5) Ran: dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth (Came out clean)

6) Ran: powercfg /requests (Nothing showed)

7) Tried to unplug and plug back in (USB devices): Dell mouse, Dell Keyboard, Dell Monitor

8) Used device manager to check drivers for display, etc (all up to date)


I usually have the screen saver set to: 15 minutes, no sleep, turn off monitor after 60 minutes.

I can get the display to turn off after the 60 minutes without any changes on my part but no screen saver unless I manually change the 1 minute default setting.
I can get the screen saver working fine if I setup my account requiring a password (odd that this solves the problem).


I have come to the conclusion unless someone has another idea or windows come out with an update to fix this issue – I will just use the turn off monitor setting instead of the screen saver.

So, is this USB issue limited to joysticks, or will other devices be seen as system activity? USB webcam/microphone presence seems to be ignored. What about printers and scanners?

Still not having luck with screen savers or power management activating? I suggest pulling all USB devices (except keyboard and mouse) and see if that does it.

Gary said:

I have not used a Screen Saver since I got a LED backlit flat screen monitor. Unless yours has a tube it is not necessary and a waste of resources.

Some, like myself, don't want to press Win-L to lock the system from external use. So, many will have a screen saver, most will have something pretty, just to have the password prompt. It will keep kids and other unwanted people from playing with the computer.