Prevent computer from going to sleep when rendering - Windows 10

[creat0r]

I just switched over from Mac to PC (and therefore also from macOS to Windows 10). I mostly work with After Effects, Blender and other VFX/editing softwares. I'm about to start an over night render, but how do I make sure that my computer won't go into sleep mode and therefore paus the render during the night?

 

I guess I could go into settings and set the computer's sleep mode to "Never", however, that seems like kind of a big hassle every time I want to render something that takes longer than 5 minutes (since it's currently set to 5 minutes).

 

Any ideas?

[jaslion]

Don't set it to 5 minutes then? Why would you even set it so low? Pc's in idle barely consume energy anyways. Sadly the only way to tell it to not automatically go to sleep is in the energy settings.

 

You could probably write a powershell script that you double click to turn it off and then a different one that turns it back to whatever setting you want if you want a 2 click solution.

[jaslion]

Probably could also if statement it that if it's on never to go back to x time. Either way 5 min is super low and just seem so inconvenient. So maybe just put it on never and just manually put it to sleep? I don't see how else you would have done this on a mac either as they behave in a similar way.

[Kilrah]

Did you actually leave it rendering for more than 5 mins to see what happens? Many programs that are expected to run for a long while actually do tell the system they're doing active work and prevent it from going to sleep.

[creat0r]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

So maybe just put it on never and just manually put it to sleep?

That is a good idea! I might put it to "Never" automatically go to sleep, and just manually put it into sleep mode when I need to.

[creat0r]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

Did you actually leave it rendering for more than 5 mins to see what happens? Many programs that are expected to run for a long while actually do tell the system they're doing active work and prevent it from going to sleep.

Yes, I tried this and it went to sleep after 5 minutes.

[jaslion]

16 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Did you actually leave it rendering for more than 5 mins to see what happens? Many programs that are expected to run for a long while actually do tell the system they're doing active work and prevent it from going to sleep.

Windows 10's sleep is super aggressive and will try to overrule anything. It's so bad it can trigger even when idle in a game. But when you want it to stay asleep it wakes up from the tiniest little thing :p.

[creat0r]

53 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Probably could also if statement it that if it's on never to go back to x time. Either way 5 min is super low and just seem so inconvenient. So maybe just put it on never and just manually put it to sleep? I don't see how else you would have done this on a mac either as they behave in a similar way.

 

35 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Windows 10's sleep is super aggressive and will try to overrule anything. It's so bad it can trigger even when idle in a game. But when you want it to stay asleep it wakes up from the tiniest little thing :p.

 

52 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Did you actually leave it rendering for more than 5 mins to see what happens? Many programs that are expected to run for a long while actually do tell the system they're doing active work and prevent it from going to sleep.

I just discovered another issue. If I set it to "Never" my password log-in from the lock screen will never appear. This is a huge security issue for me since my computer is in a public space. Can I avoid my computer from going to sleep and still have the password log-in screen appear after 5 minutes?

[Marbo]

11 minutes ago, creat0r said:

 

 

I just discovered another issue. If I set it to "Never" my password log-in from the lock screen will never appear. This is a huge security issue for me since my computer is in a public space. Can I avoid my computer from going to sleep and still have the password log-in screen appear after 5 minutes?

Ctrl-Alt-Del Lock 

 

Your render should continue but pc will need the password to be used again. 

[jaslion]

26 minutes ago, creat0r said:

 

 

I just discovered another issue. If I set it to "Never" my password log-in from the lock screen will never appear. This is a huge security issue for me since my computer is in a public space. Can I avoid my computer from going to sleep and still have the password log-in screen appear after 5 minutes?

Just hit the windows key + L. Will lock the system.

[Kilrah]

Or set a screensaver and enable the option to ask for password on exit.

[creat0r]

25 minutes ago, Marbo said:

Ctrl-Alt-Del Lock 

 

Your render should continue but pc will need the password to be used again. 

 

10 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Just hit the windows key + L. Will lock the system.

 

2 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Or set a screensaver and enable the option to ask for password on exit.

Thank you. Worked great.

[Marbo]

23 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Just hit the windows key + L. Will lock the system.

For years I've been hitting ctrl alt delete then clicking lock. How much time could I have saved

[steelo]

57 minutes ago, Marbo said:

For years I've been hitting ctrl alt delete then clicking lock. How much time could I have saved

Minutes of your life....just wasted. LOL