Fix: USB Audio Device Preventing Sleep in Windows 10

Your Windows 10 computer may not go to Sleep mode for no obvious reason. The reason can be the audio or any other device which is preventing Sleep mode in Windows 10.

Since I was the victim of this issue because of my sound device, I will keep it to fixing the issue with audio device. But these steps can also be used for other devices like ethernet card etc.

These may not all be the reasons in your case. You may try the solutions one by one and check if your problem is fixed.

 

Power Management using command line

  1. The first thing you have to do is run a command to see which device is preventing your system from going to sleep mode. To check this, open CMD with Administrative privileges. And type the following command.
    “powercfg -requests”
    Fix: USB Audio Device Preventing Sleep in Windows 10 1
  2. It will show you the device name under “System”. Now next you have to tell to Power Management System to ignore that particular device and let your system to sleep mode when requested. Following command has to be executed with exact device name you get in the result of above command.
  3. For example suppose you get “High Definition Audio Device”, then the command will be like this.
    powercfg –REQUESTSOVERRIDE DRIVER “High Definition Audio Device” SYSTEM.
  4. Now Power Management System will ignore this device and doesn’t create any issue to put your system into sleep mode.

Disable Cortana

Windows 10 have Cortana option that allows you to speak and Cortana will open it for you by listening what you speak. If the issue occurs after updating your Operating System to Windows 10, then it might be Cortana that is creating trouble and won’t let your system sleep.

  1. So to disable Cortana, type Cortana in Start menu and open “Cortana and Search Settings”.
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  2. Disable the option of “Hey Cortana” by swapping the slider.
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  3. This will solve the issue for users who have upgraded their Windows to Windows 10, and cannot put the system into sleep mode.

Check Power Options for sleep option adjustment

  1. Go to Control Panel –> Hardware & Sound –> Power Options –> Edit Plan Settings.
  2. Here you will see options that when you want to put the system to go to Sleep mode. Check the settings if it is not set to “never” option. If it is, then set settings according to your requirement.
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The solutions are tested and verified. Hopefully, you will be able to disable audio stream which is creating an issue for a system while going to sleep mode. Thank you.

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Having done MPhil in Computer Sciences, I'm passionate about new IT technologies and eager to learn. I write about tech trends, new tools and software, and rapidly emerging technologies.

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