How to Change What Happens When You Close the Laptop Lid

Closing the lid puts the laptop to sleep, which is a problem when it is plugged into an external monitor and should keep running. The setting that controls this is not on the Settings page most people look at. It still lives in the old Control Panel, where the lid has its own choice for battery power and another for plugged in.

Open Power Options

Click Start, type power, and choose Edit power plan or Power Options from the Control Panel results. The modern page at Settings, System, Power & battery covers screen and sleep timers but has no lid setting.

Open the lid setting

In the left column of Power Options, click Choose what closing the lid does. The page that opens also holds the power button and sleep button actions, each in a row with two columns.

Set the behavior for battery and plugged in

On the When I close the lid row, pick from the dropdown under On battery and again under Plugged in. The choices are Do nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut down. Setting Plugged in to Do nothing and leaving On battery on Sleep is the usual combination for a laptop that sits on a desk dock.

Save changes

Click Save changes at the bottom. The new behavior applies right away, so close the lid once to confirm the laptop responds the way it should.

Watch the heat if you chose Do nothing

With Do nothing selected, the display often stays powered even though the lid is shut, and the machine keeps running at full speed. That is fine on a desk with airflow. Putting the laptop in a bag in that state traps the heat, so shut it down or press Windows + L and then the power button before it goes anywhere.

If the setting will not stick. Several laptop makers install their own power or battery utility that writes over the Windows choice after a restart. Open that app, find its lid or power section, and set the behavior there instead of in Control Panel.

If Hibernate is missing from the list. It is turned off on many new laptops. In the same Power Options window, click Change what the power buttons do, click Change settings that are currently unavailable, tick Hibernate, and save. The option then appears in the lid dropdowns.