Enable or Disable Wake Timers in Windows 10  

"Allow wake timers" seems to be the answer to activating hibernate when computer is awakened from sleep, is there any other reason for hibernate being activated automatically after being turned off?

As of the 2021-10 Update (KB5006670) the Allow wake timers setting doesn't seem to be applied anymore on my machine (docked Surface Pro 6).

Previously I used the guide from here [1] to unhide the 'Allow wake timers' setting in Power Options and setting it to 'Disable'. This did fix my problem in the past caused by the `StartMenuExperienceHost.exe` wake timer, but not anymore.

Currently the Power Options UI shows 'Disable' for both 'On battery' and 'Plugged in' categories.
But Windows keeps waking up in the last two days.

Code:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>powercfg waketimers
Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\StartMenuExperienceHost.exe expires at 00:00:00 on ♥.

I wonder if anyone else is having this problem.

1- Add or Remove Allow wake timers to Power Options in Windows 10

Hi, thanks for the response.

Powercfg lastwake is empty. There are no recent "Power-troubleshooter" events in the System log.
Still, if I put my computer to sleep it wakes up one minute later. Happened just now, very irritating.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.1288]
Version 20H2 OS Build 19042.1288

Is anyone else on this patch level and can confirm that the "Disable wake timers" setting is still working?

The most common reason this happens to me currently -- after I've disabled every possible wake thing I can find -- is that a usb device, namely my printer -- manages to wake the computer if it is not off within a few minutes. So, check if some usb device might still be on, especially if it has an independent power source. I think this happens to me even if I have not allowed usb devices to wake the computer.

Also, I am too lazy to check the patch level of my win 10 machine right now, but it updated just a few days ago, and at that time the enable wake timers setting was still available (saw it because I had some other problem). But, that is a laptop, and ms allows different things when there are batteries.

lev said:

As of the 2021-10 Update (KB5006670) the Allow wake timers setting doesn't seem to be applied anymore on my machine (docked Surface Pro 6).

Here's a batch program "Lastwake.bat" you can run from Windows to tell you all the things that wake the computer:
-------------------

Code:

@echo off
Echo LastWake.bat 
SETLOCAL
set Date=%DATE:~0,2%%DATE:~3,2%%DATE:~6,4%
set LOGDIR=D:\Temp
set LOG=%LOGDIR%\LASTWAKE.LOG
REM    If LASTWAKE.LOG A-bit was cleared, delete it
dir /aa /b %LOG%
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 del %LOG%
Echo ========= LASTWAKE.BAT    %Date% ========================= >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo 1. lastwake
Echo 1. lastwake _______________________ >> %LOG%
powercfg/lastwake            >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo 2. waketimers
Echo 2. -waketimers _____________________ >> %LOG%
powercfg -waketimers            >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo 3. devicequery wake_armed
Echo 3. devicequery wake_armed _________ >> %LOG%
powercfg/devicequery wake_armed        >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo 4. requests
Echo 4. requests _______________________ >> %LOG%
powercfg/requests            >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo 5. systemsleepdiagnostics
Echo 5. systemsleepdiagnostics _________ >> %LOG%
powercfg/systemsleepdiagnostics        >> %LOG%
Echo. >> %LOG%

Echo. >> %LOG%
Echo.
COPY %LOG% %LOGDIR%\%Date%.log /Y    >NUL
IF EXIST %LOGDIR%\%Date%.log DEL %LOGDIR%\%Date%.log >NUL
REM    CLEAR LOG A-bit
attrib -a +i %LOG%
Echo To view results...
PAUSE

START /d %LOG%
Echo To view system-sleep-diagnostics.html...
ENDLOCAL
PAUSE

C:\WINDOWS\system32\system-sleep-diagnostics.html
EXIT /b