How to Prevent Windows From Waking Up Automatically From Sleep

You put your PC to sleep, only to find it awake hours later, fans spinning, screen lit. This isn’t just annoying—it can drain power, interfere with remote work setups, or even lead to unwanted software updates running overnight.

Here’s how to stop Windows from waking itself up when you didn’t ask it to.

Step 1: Find Out What Woke Your PC

Open Command Prompt (Admin) and run:

You’ll see something like:

You can also check:

This shows all devices currently allowed to wake the PC.

Step 2: Disable Wake Permissions on Devices

1. Open Device Manager

2. Expand categories like Network adapters, Mice, Keyboards, USB controllers

3. Right-click → Properties → Power Management tab

4. Uncheck “Allow this device to wake the computer”

Common culprits:

• USB mice

• Network adapters (especially wireless)

• Bluetooth devices

• Scheduled tasks (see below)

Step 3: Disable Wake Timers in Power Settings

1. Open Control Panel → Power Options

2. Select your active plan → Change plan settings

3. Click Change advanced power settings

4. Scroll to Sleep → Allow wake timers

5. Set both Battery and Plugged in to Disable

Step 4: Check Scheduled Tasks

• Open Task Scheduler

• Navigate to Task Scheduler Library → Microsoft → Windows → UpdateOrchestrator

• Right-click Reboot → Properties

• In Conditions, uncheck Wake the computer to run this task

Real Example

A user’s PC woke at 3:30 a.m. every night. The cause? A scheduled update check set by Windows Update. Disabling wake timers and USB device wake fixed it completely.

Sleep should mean sleep. With these settings, you finally gain full control over when your PC powers up.