Windows 8.1 refuses to sleep

Yeah, Orbital . . . they generally do when there's no real answer from Microsoft and a free app such as Standby Helper solves the problem for most.

My thread on NumLock not being on at Startup has also died without a solution.

Makes me wonder why we stick with Windows, but I'm still using it. :)

i'm still using it for now. I just bought a chromebook and it does about 80%. For what it is, it's a pleasure to use.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build Desktop
    CPU
    Core I7-4770 Haswell
    Motherboard
    Intel DH87RL
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard 4600 with (3) DVI monitors
    Sound Card
    On board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    (3) 19" LG L1942PE DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x1024
    Hard Drives
    HD Green 4TB

    Samsung SSD
I have been having this issue for a while now and it has been driving me nuts. Sometimes the PC will sleep without any issues and other times it would stay awake until I do a reboot. powercfg -requests show nothing blocking steep so I don't know what the issue could be.

I am glad to know that I am not the only one experiencing this behavior.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Ever since upgrading to W8.1 my PC would not sleep reliably. After a bunch of updates it would at least sleep once or twice after a reboot then stay awake until I did a reboot again. Powercfg –requests showed “None”. I tried several solutions, but nothing worked.

I first read about “SettingSyncHost.exe” in this forum. Despite disabling both, Sync Settings and Back up Settings, in PC Settings under OneDrive and even disabling it in group policies, I would still see the process running in Task Manager. It wasn’t present however right after a reboot, yet would run after a few hours of using the PC or after waking the PC up from sleep. It still would go to sleep sometimes even if SettingSyncHost.exe was running, so I was not convinced it was the culprit.

The next time I found my PC awake after several hours of being idle, I did just one thing: opened Task Manager and killed the process “SettingSyncHost.exe”. I waited and after the expected time my PC went to sleep (Just like that!). If SettingSyncHost.exe runs long enough it seems to keep the PC from going to sleep.

I did not want to delete the exe-file for fear of damaging my system. So I created a task in Task Scheduler to kill the process (with highest privileges and to run whether user is logged on or not). I created three triggers: On workstation lock, on workstation unlock, and every two hours after logging on (You can use taskkill command, a batch file, or as I did an Autohotkey-Script. You won’t even notice it running. However, I have not tried another timeframe other than two hours). Since then my PC has not missed sleep once! And that almost for three months now!

I have not experienced any adverse effects whatsoever. I kept a close watch on event viewer and nothing related showed up. I use a Microsoft account, but I have disabled HomeGroup (since I don’t use it). I have even re-enabled Sync settings in PC settings and group policies and it still works.

There are three tasks related to SettingSync present in Task Scheduler under Windows. Since my PC is sleeping reliably now I left them alone. Maybe disabling them would also work. I don’t know what the problem with SettingSyncHost.exe is and I know this solution won’t work for everybody, but it works for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 Pro 64
Hi all! I have the sleep problem too, in my windows 8.1. I've tried all, Log out and login, disable every syncronization, change all the power options, leave the home group, disable the network adapter that I use, but nothing of that works! The only way to re-enable the sleep is a complete reboot, after that for a few hours the sleep works properly, but then stop to work and I can't find nothing to fix it. I think that could be a program, but this is excluded when I log out and log in... I read almost everything here, nothing. I'm desperate :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI z87-G41
    Memory
    DDR3 Kingston HyperX Red 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Graphics 4600 HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster 940NW
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    SSD Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
    PSU
    XFX ProSeries 450W
    Case
    Midi-Tower Corsair Obsidian 450D
    Keyboard
    Enermax KB010U Aurora LITE
    Mouse
    Logitech M90
    Browser
    Firefox
There is clearly a bug that is causing sleep to stop working. The fact that it works again after a reboot says it all. Now will Microsoft ever fix this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
There is clearly a bug that is causing sleep to stop working. The fact that it works again after a reboot says it all. Now will Microsoft ever fix this?

Yes but it would be enough a little (working) program that indicate what process or app cause the wake up. I do not think that this is very difficult to realize...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI z87-G41
    Memory
    DDR3 Kingston HyperX Red 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Graphics 4600 HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster 940NW
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    SSD Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
    PSU
    XFX ProSeries 450W
    Case
    Midi-Tower Corsair Obsidian 450D
    Keyboard
    Enermax KB010U Aurora LITE
    Mouse
    Logitech M90
    Browser
    Firefox
If I force close the process "host process for setting synchronization" the system still no sleep, and if I disable the sync of OneDrive this process isn't in the list of active process. So there is not a way to fix temporary the insomnia unless restart the pc?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI z87-G41
    Memory
    DDR3 Kingston HyperX Red 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Graphics 4600 HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster 940NW
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    SSD Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
    PSU
    XFX ProSeries 450W
    Case
    Midi-Tower Corsair Obsidian 450D
    Keyboard
    Enermax KB010U Aurora LITE
    Mouse
    Logitech M90
    Browser
    Firefox
Last night I disabled every sharing in every single folder, and this seems to work. For now I have no problem with sleeping, the strange is that when the problem was present, disable the network adapter doesn't solve the problem. Though I can't give up sharing folders... Hope that there is another fix...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI z87-G41
    Memory
    DDR3 Kingston HyperX Red 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Graphics 4600 HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SyncMaster 940NW
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    SSD Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
    PSU
    XFX ProSeries 450W
    Case
    Midi-Tower Corsair Obsidian 450D
    Keyboard
    Enermax KB010U Aurora LITE
    Mouse
    Logitech M90
    Browser
    Firefox
I found a solution in the most unlikely place: the Task Manager. This is for 8 and 8.1 Windows by the way. Here's the step-by-step:
1. Open the Task Manager

2. If it isn't set for that already, click 'More Details'.

3. Check the Background Processes and end the process on any of them that sends data back and forth on the PC, such as OneDrive.

4.Go to the Startup tab. You will see a list of programs that automatically start running at startup. Also there will be a section in that tab that says 'Startup Impact'. That means how it affects how fast your PC boots, goes to sleep or hibernates, or shutdown and restart.

5. Click on the program you want to disable, such as OneDrive, and click 'Disable'. My suggestion is to disable the programs that have either 'Not Measured' or 'High' on startup impact measure. Those are often the programs that keep the PC from going to sleep.

I did the above steps and it worked like a charm for me! However to ensure it works, use the suggestion on disabling the Family Controller. After doing both, I tried it out and my PC went to sleep within seconds of me telling it to sleep!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Fanolan and DarkFire45, welcome to the eight forum! Be sure to check out the tutorial section form some great tips.

Folks, as most of the new posters have found out, disabling Homegroup or file sharing will usually fix the sleep issue. Disabling IPV6 will also fix it. Make sure that you have disabled the media sharing in the advanced settings of power:
2014-06-28_013033.jpg

Since I use Homegroup all the time, I cannot afford not to have sharing turned off. Out of the 4 computers in my house running Win8.1, only one does not sleep properly (all are about the same hardware wise.) We have worked hard on trying to come up with a single program or process that consistently fixes the sleep issue without success. Seems to be an syncing issue like many of you have found out, with not being able to connect to a particular network device or share that might be the issue. I reloaded Win8.1 and had not installed any 3rd party programs (except for some basic video drivers ) and the problem popped up so it sure seems to be confined to Win 8.1 proper. there are some workarounds that work for some people and some basic settings (like shown above) that WILL cause no sleep so read through this whole morass of a forum post to see what has been tried and not.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS
Nice post Johnpombrio, Datkfire45 if you do some reading of the forum you will also see that StandbyHelper will solve the sleep problem for most without having to micro manage the functions of your pc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build Desktop
    CPU
    Core I7-4770 Haswell
    Motherboard
    Intel DH87RL
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard 4600 with (3) DVI monitors
    Sound Card
    On board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    (3) 19" LG L1942PE DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x1024
    Hard Drives
    HD Green 4TB

    Samsung SSD
Allowing the PC to sleep while sharing media is not a good solution for me. For one the PC will sleep in the middle of streaming a video.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Someone from Microsoft told me that this issue is resolved with the updates released today.

A little slow on the uptake, wouldn't you say? If it happens, I will be :dinesh: in the streets for all those it helps. I just hope it doesn't break my perfectly sleeping PCs!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 500-056
    CPU
    AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-6500
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 8570D
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wave K350
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    Fast
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Someone from Microsoft told me that this issue is resolved with the updates released today.

Downloading and installing it now. I have taken a screenshot of all the updates so I can track down the KB that fixes it. My expectations are ambivalent.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit GA
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4770K Haswell
    Motherboard
    ASUS Z87-PRO
    Memory
    16 GB of Corsair 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX 780
    Sound Card
    Cooler Master Storm Headphones
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 27 inch U2711 IPS
    Screen Resolution
    2560 by 1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Pro 250GB SSD plus 2 3 TB drives
    PSU
    Corsair-750
    Case
    Corsair White Graphite Series 600T
    Cooling
    Corsair H00i Water
    Keyboard
    Corsair K90
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser
    Internet Speed
    6.3 MBps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 500-056
    CPU
    AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-6500
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 8570D
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 23"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wave K350
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    Fast
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Someone from Microsoft told me that this issue is resolved with the updates released today.

Anyone care to take bets....
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 Pro 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build Desktop
    CPU
    Core I7-4770 Haswell
    Motherboard
    Intel DH87RL
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard 4600 with (3) DVI monitors
    Sound Card
    On board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    (3) 19" LG L1942PE DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x1024
    Hard Drives
    HD Green 4TB

    Samsung SSD
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