Not possible to select plugged in sleep time above 20 minutes (when default is 1 hour)

[XanderXAJ]

Workarounds:

If you're downloading games, Steam Deck will stay awake -- no need to change the time!

If you've already changed the sleep time, there's a workaround to reset it to 1 hour below.

More details:

About the Settings > Display > When plugged in, sleep after... option.

By default, when plugged in, the Steam Deck will go to sleep after 1 hour.

When I first got it, it needed to download a lot of games, so I set it to Disabled.

However, once that was done and I wanted to set it back to 1 hour, I can't. The maximum time, apart from Disabled, is 20 minutes.

[davoto]

bump. How do I set it back to 1 hour? Can't find a reset or default button.

[XanderXAJ]

One possible workaround I've discovered since that works if you're downloading games: if you open the downloads screen, the Deck won't go to sleep until all the downloads are complete. This even works on battery power. No need to change the sleep settings.

If you want to keep the Deck awake for any other reason, I don't have a workaround.

The quirk original bug described above still stands either way.

[bun]

bump - 1 hour option disappears after I selected 20 minutes

[PseudoThief]

Same problem here too! Changed it to 20mins, now can't even see 1 hour setting.

[Proximity | Dirty Dan]

Same

[Wizarro]

This happened to me as well. I thought I just imagined that 1hr was an option before I changed the setting.

[Rabapab]

Same

[NoOnEkNoWzIt]

Bump, same problem

[PianoMan2112]

Thanks for reminding me to set it back; I had to set it to never to do a download last night.

[Masqueey]

I finally figured it out! Took me a whole morning and it's more complex than I would have liked, but it is doable. It's easier to fix with a physical keyboard, but doable without one.

With a physical keyboard

1. Go to desktop mode
2. Turn off Steam (bottom right tray, steam icon > Exit Steam) (otherwise your config changes will be reset)
3. Open Dophin (the file manager, bottom left, by default third item after the steam logo)
4. Go to /home/deck/.steam/root/config, open config.vdf (if you can't see hidden files, press ctrl+h or click the hamburger menu in the top right and select "Show Hidden Files")
5. Search (edit > find or ctrl+f) for "IdleSuspendACSeconds" and change the number to "3600" (or some other value you like, don't forget to leave the "'s in place)
6. Save, go to your desktop and click "Return to Gaming Mode", this should restart Steam and enable your new settings

With the on-screen keyboard

Note that the order of steps is different here because the on-screen keyboard stops working once you shut-down steam.

1. Go to desktop mode
Navigation is with the touchpads or the touchscreen, clicking is by pressing the touchpads or the screen.
2. Open Dophin (the file manager, bottom left, by default third item after the steam logo)
3. Go to /home/deck/.steam/root/config, open config.vdf (if you can't see hidden files, press ctrl+h or click the hamburger menu in the top right and select "Show Hidden Files")
4. Search (edit > find or ctrl+f) for "IdleSuspendACSeconds" and change the number to "3600" (or some other value you like, don't forget to leave the " in place). Ignore any warnings that the file has been changed or updated. Note the line number of this line! For me the line number was 644, but it is probably different for everyone.
5. Select the now edited line (it's a bit tricky but holding your finger down before dragging it across the line is the easiest way). Right click it (click the left touchpad) and select copy.
6. Close the file.
7. Turn off Steam (bottom right tray, steam icon > Exit Steam) (to stop the updating on the updating off the config file)
Your touchpad controls will now stop working for a few seconds but after touching the screen and waiting for a short bit, they should continue to work.
8. Open the config.vdf file again and scroll to the line. Select the same section you copied, right click it (which is now the left trigger (LT), and press paste, which should overwrite the full line, so it looked like you just edited the value.
9. Click save, close the file, and return to the desktop.
10. Double-click "Return to Gaming Mode" and voila!

Best of luck to everyone who encounters this issue. I am subscribed to this thread, so if it doesn't work out, be sure to let me know!

See the comment below for a slightly simplified walkthrough when using the on-screen keyboard.

Originally posted by PianoMan2112:

Here are some simplifications for some of the steps:

[PianoMan2112]

It worked; thanks! Because I'm lazy, here are optional updates for the on-screen keyboard option:
4: (I didn't have an s after the duration; I had it disabled so it was "0".) More importantly; the Find command has a buffer, so once you search for IdleSuspendACSeconds once, it will always be available; this means you don't have to remember the line number!
5: In Search, type in the value you'll want (I did 14400 and it showed afterwards as 4 hours) and close the keyboard, then double-click (R2) to select it, right-click (L2) and Cut.
8: Clock Edit, Find, then click the down arrow and select IdleSuspendACSeconds. Double-click on the value, right-click, Paste.

Bonus mode: Who can find the file that stores the selectable values of 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes (probably stored as 60, 300, 600, 900 and 1200 seconds), so we can customize the dropdown list?

[Masqueey]

Because I'm also lazy, I added your post as reference. I think those values are hard-coded and need to therefore be changed by the devs, I'm afraid.

[Yushimi]

Bump as this isn’t fixed yet. Should allow us to set whatever duration we like.

Edit: the default was an hour and now the longest I can set is only 20 minutes so at least give us the option to repick the one hour option which was the default.

[Masqueey]

Originally posted by Yushimi:

Bump as this isn’t fixed yet. Should allow us to set whatever duration we like.

I agree that it should get fixed, but there is a workaround posted in this thread.

[Alchemer]

Bump.
Still an issue I just ran into as well.