While a Windows laptop works great on the go, you can turn it into a real workstation at home, too. By connecting an external keyboard, mouse and monitor, the laptop can function as a desktop computer. But there’s one problem with this: how do you keep the laptop awake when it’s closed?

By default, Windows puts your laptop to sleep when you close the lid. This means that even if you don’t want to use the laptop screen as a secondary monitor, you still have to leave the laptop open to keep your computer awake.

or you? Fortunately, you can leave the monitor on when the laptop is closed. Here’s how.

How to keep the screen on when the laptop lid is closed

Windows offers a simple toggle that allows you to keep your laptop screen on, even when it’s closed. Find it through the following steps:

1. On the system tray (in the lower right corner of the screen) find Battery icon. You may need to click the small arrow to display all the icons. Right click Battery and choose Power options.
   1. Alternatively, to open this menu in Windows 10, you can go to Settings > System > Power & Sleep and select Additional power settings from the right menu. Drag the settings window to expand it if you don’t see this link.
   2. As a last method, open Control panel change it by looking for it in the Start menu Look at option in the upper right corner for Small iconsand select Power options.
2. To the left of the obtained Power options Control panel entry, select Choose what the lid closure does.
3. You will see options for power and sleep buttons. Under, under When I close the lidchange the drop down box for Connected to It doesn’t do anything.
   1. If you want, you can change the same setting for On battery. However, this can cause some problems, as we will explain below.
4. Click Save changes and you are ready.

Now when you close your laptop screen, your machine will continue to work normally. This means you can control it with external devices, such as a mouse and keyboard, while the laptop itself is neatly tucked away.

However, remember that when you want to put your laptop to sleep or turn it off, you’ll need to use the Start menu commands (or try the Windows sleep and shutdown shortcuts) after making this change. Another option is to use the physical power button on your computer to turn it off; you can change the behavior for this on the same page mentioned above.

Beware of heat when closing your laptop without sleeping

That’s all you need to do to shut down your laptop without it going to sleep. However, changing this option has consequences that you should be aware of.

The default shortcut for closing the lid to put the computer to sleep is convenient when you put the laptop in a bag. But if you forget about it after changing this option when your laptop is running on battery power, you could accidentally put your laptop indoors while it’s still on.

In addition to draining the battery, having a laptop trapped in a bag while it’s running will generate a lot of heat, which can eventually destroy your laptop. Therefore, you should consider changing the cover setting only when your laptop is on Connectedand always turn on your laptop when using it at your desk.

That way, you won’t forget to put your laptop in your backpack for running. This is a good combination of practicality and security.

Simply keep your laptop awake when it’s closed

As we’ve seen, it’s easy to change how your Windows laptop behaves when the lid is closed. Staying awake with the lid closed lets you harness the power of your computer even when you’re not using its built-in display.

If you often use your laptop in this way, we recommend getting a laptop docking station for more functionality.