What is the hotkey to put my Windows to sleep?

Question

My keyboard doesn't have power-related keys. I would like to enter the hybrid sleep using the keyboard and only with a minimum of keystrokes.

If there is none, how do I bind a hotkey to it?

score 34 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 19 '20 at 16:59

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In English Windows (versions prior to Windows 10)

Windows , → , → , s will put the computer to sleep.

In English Windows 10

Win+X , U , S

If sleep is configured to be hybrid, then it will be a hybrid sleep.

edited Apr 19 '20 at 16:59

Jeff Atwood

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answered Oct 05 '10 at 13:59

Jader Dias

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+1, Relatively easy to remember and works always as it does not require changes to the system. – mgronber Aug 24 '13 at 16:53
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This pattern no longer works in Windows 10. It's now Win-↑-↑-Enter-↓-Enter, but it's *not* totally reliable; I've sometimes seen "sleep" not be an option, perhaps because of pending updates, causing this to reboot instead. – Christian Conkle Aug 09 '15 at 15:29
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@ChristianConkle At that point, they might as well have made it the Konami Code. – krillgar Sep 20 '16 at 19:43
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Windows 10 (including 1607!): Win+X → Up → Up → Right → Up → Up. (Last part may vary.) – Daniel B Feb 28 '17 at 07:15
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Windows 10 English: `Win+X` -> `U` -> `S` (variant on @DanielB's idea, but with fewer up-up-ups). Edit: Oh, I see Christian Conkle already answered this same thing in another answer (not comment). – Luc Aug 18 '18 at 01:02
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In your Windows is in French: `Win+X`, `D`, `V` – philb May 10 '22 at 22:15

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 05 '10 at 13:59

Windows doesn't have a standard hotkey or keyboard shortcut for going to sleep - except the "sleep" button that you see on some keyboards.

Instead, you can use a program to trigger the sleep state, and you can assign a shortcut to launch this program:

Download Steve's Wizmo tool.
Create a shortcut to this program on your desktop.
Right-click the shortcut, and select Properties.
In the field Target, add the word standby. *)
Click in the field Shortcut key, then press the key combination you want to use. This is then displayed in the field. Note: Not all shortcuts work, e.g. Win+S gets translated to Ctrl-Alt-S instead.
Click OK and try out the shortcut!

*) See the Wizmo webpage for complete documentation. Wizmo can do lots more!

Glad to see there's more Steve Gibson fans here. – qroberts Oct 05 '10 at 14:09 — qroberts, Oct 05 '10 at 14:09

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 22 '17 at 17:21

Starting in Windows 8, and continuing in Windows 10 at least as of the Creators Update, the +x menu allows quick access to the "shut down or sign out menu." And it has sensible accelerators; "u" for the shut down menu, and then "s" for sleep.

You can sleep with the sequence +x, u, s.

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 28 '17 at 06:53

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You can use the free utility NirCmd as follows:

"C:\Program Files\Nircmd\nircmd.exe" standby

The rest you can find in torbengb's answer.

edited Feb 28 '17 at 06:53

GetFree

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answered Oct 05 '10 at 14:00

harrymc

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You need the "standby" command to go to sleep. The "hibernate" command does what you think it does. – GetFree Feb 28 '17 at 05:15

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 22 '13 at 14:26

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You can try this command instead (no external programs are required):

Rundll32.exe Powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Sleep

answered Oct 22 '13 at 14:26

Steve Kero

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Unfortunately, if you have hibernation enabled, this will hibernate instead of sleep. – Jeremy Stein Dec 10 '14 at 20:10

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 07 '19 at 15:24

You can use Autohotkey script:

Pause::
    DllCall("PowrProf\SetSuspendState", "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", 0)
    Return

It will put PC to sleep when you press "Pause Break"

You can change key to any combination you want

source: https://gist.github.com/davejamesmiller/1965847

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 23 '17 at 14:33

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My method doesn't satisfy the minimum keystrokes requirement I guess...

but anyways...

+D to go to the desktop, and from there press Alt+F4

Choose the action and then press enter. It's three keyboard operations if sleep is your default action. I kind of like the Alt+F4 window it brings up.

edited Mar 23 '17 at 14:33

Donald Duck

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answered Mar 22 '17 at 19:58

Ballistic Grin

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 17 '20 at 14:34

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Another good option: Use "psshutdown -d -t 0"

From pstools of SysInternals: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/pstools

Create the shortcut with its hotkeys. Pin the shortcut to taskbar, have it on desktop, use hotkeys ;D.

answered Oct 17 '20 at 14:34

user1231286

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Peter · Answer 9 · 2022-05-23T08:32:20.267

Way back, you are asking about shortcut for "hybrid sleep" which goes for stationary PS's, avoiding RAM-erase if external power supply should be accidently cut off. I have not activated this function, but only normal "sleep" on my laptop, which have power back-up by internal battery.

Still in 2022 it seems there is no easy short-cut on windows for sleep mode. If no of the above answers fits you (or more recent visitors), you can try "my" easy method. I have configured the power button on the laptop keyboard to go into sleep instead of shut down. See below. (note that my Windows 10-system is in Danish, so maybe not the quite correct translations here)

go to Control panel
go to System
go to Power options
In the right column of the window chose "Advanced power management"

Now you are at the options for Power Management Plans. In the left column I can select what happens when I press the power on/off button, and reconfigure the action from "shut down" to "sleep", "hibernate", and maybe "hybrid sleep".

So, voila, I just press the power button on the laptop (or the PC?) to go to sleep mode. Again: I am not sure if it works on PCs, but good luck.

What is the hotkey to put my Windows to sleep?

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