¶ Command line
- Run
CMD as administrator
- Run this command
powercfg /requests
- Open Task Manager
- End the task of the application
¶ Understanding results
The results aren’t presented in the most user-friendly format; such is the nature of information you’ll get from command-line tools. That said, here’s a simple breakdown of the information you might see.
- Display: This will show processes that have taken over the display e.g. an app in full-screen mode. This could be a media player like the Movies & TV app, or it could be presentation software like PowerPoint. It could also be a screen recording tool like OBS.
- System: This will show system processes though the system processes may be invoked by other apps that are running. For example, if an audio stream is playing, the audio driver will be in use and will appear to be preventing the system from entering sleep. You will normally be able to see which apps are using the audio device on your system so quitting it shouldn’t be too hard.
- Awaymode: This will show apps exclusively. It’s a command that apps send to Windows 10 telling it to keep the system awake. Apps can programmatically do this.