Disable modern standby on Windows 10 and 11

In this post, we will describe how to disable modern standby on Windows 10 and 11. Modern Standby is a Windows 10 and 11 power management feature that allows devices to enter a low-power state similar to “Sleep” mode while still performing certain connectivity and background tasks such as receiving notifications, downloading updates, and syncing data. It is also known as “InstantGo” or “Connected Standby” on some devices. Please see how to Get Started Quickly With Windows Hello, and How to enable or disable Screen Saver in Windows 10 or Windows 11 via Windows Settings or Group Policy.

The PC remains in a low-power state in Modern Standby mode, allowing it to quickly wake up and perform tasks without having to fully boot up. This mode is especially useful for devices that are constantly connected to the internet, such as tablets and laptops, because it allows them to receive notifications and other updates while conserving battery life.

Modern Standby mode is supported on certain hardware and requires specific hardware components such as a low-power system-on-a-chip (SoC), a network controller that supports Wake on LAN (WoL), and a solid-state drive (SSD) for storage.

Often times, Modern Standby often leads to automatic BitLocker Drive Encryption as stated by Dell.

Here is a guide discussing this topic “Modern Standby: Why is my PC automatically encrypted?“. Please see What are the Differences between UEFI and BIOS, and “How to disable power plan in Windows via GPO and Windows Settings“.

How to Locate Your PC’s Current Sleep State?

Check if your device supports Modern Standby before disabling it. Follow the steps below to determine your current sleep mode:

Step 1: Press Win + R to evoke the Run command dialog box.

Check the Run command dialog box to see the indicator the this task will be created with administrative privileges.

If the administrator’s indicator is not there, you can alternatively launch the Command prompt with administrator’s privileges by pressing Win + S to evoke the search bar.

When the search bar displays, type cmd to locate Command Prompt and right-click on it and then choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. When the command prompt console opens up, type the command below and press Enter.

powercfg /a 

You will see the available sleep states as shown in the screenshot above.

You review the following posts to learn about more troubleshooting steps on Windows: How to run Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool in Windows, How to Update to Windows 11 Using the Windows Update Tool, How to Install Windows Admin Center on Windows 10 and Windows 11,

How to Disable Standby Mode on Windows 10 and 11

We can manually disable standby mode by modifying the entry in the system registry editor as follows:

Step 1: Press Win + R to open the Run dialog. Type regedit and then hit Enter to open Registry Editor.

Step 2: When the Registry Editor opens up, copy and paste the following address into the navigation bar and press Enter.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

As shown in the screenshot above,  right-click on the Power tab and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Step 3: Right-click on this new value and rename it to PlatformAoAcOverride.

Step 4: The next thing is to right-click on PlatformAoAcOverride, select Modify and change Value data to 0 and press OK to save changes.

Please, see Full Integration Guide on how to Add Nutanix AHV to Veeam, and BitLocker behavior when MBAM agent is removed: No Uninstall Option in Control Panel.

How to disable Modern Standby via Windows Registry Script

A registry script is another simple way to disable Modern Standby.

Step 1: Open the Run dialog and type Notepad, and then press Enter to open a new Notepad file

Step 2: Enter the code shown in the screenshot below into the Notepad pad interface, click on Save as, and save the file as All files with the .reg extension.

When prompted by UAC, double-click the Disable_Modern_Standby.reg file and select Yes. Rebooting your computer is step six.

Note: You can also enable Modern Standby if you need to in the future by repeating the same step as above using the command below.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
"PlatformAoAcOverride"=-

Please, see how to Fix MSIEXEC returned 1602: Trellix Setup cannot use this account, and How to enable FIPS mode on Windows Server.

Disabling Modern Standby using Command Prompt

Step 1: Launch the Command prompt as an Administrator

Step 2: Execute the below code using the command prompt

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power /v PlatformAoAcOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 0

After the operation has successfully completed, close the command prompt and reboot your computer to apply the changes. Now, you have learned how to disable modern standby on Windows 10 and 11.

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