Steam prevents computer from going to sleep/standby

[PooperScooper]

I noticed the computer will not automatically go to sleep when Steam is running and a game has been launched atleast once. Even though nothing is downloading, the computer will not go to sleep. As soon as I exit Steam, the computer will standby/sleep after the elapsed time. Any idea what is preventing standby?

What's interesting is if I simply launch Steam, PC will go to sleep soon after being idle. Only once I launch a game then exit, the computer will not go to sleep automatically. Launching/exiting more games will not revert this. Only exiting Steam will fix this.

Thanks for the help

[Kyguy]

I still have this problem. I'm really surprised it's still an issue!

[xmaster]

I can confirm the problem still happens with the latest steam over windows 10 version 1809. I have added the requestsoveride for now but this seems like a bug with steam that should have already been fixed

[Exel]

Six years later and this still has not been fixed. If I forget to turn off Steam before leaving the house or going to sleep, my computer will never switch to sleep mode.

[2-22]

I have a problem with win 10 desktop not coming out of sleep. Having tried every remedy on win 10 forums, I shut down Steam and it now awakes from sleep with no issues. I have no idea what the cause/cure is for this. Does anyone have a suggestion. Many thanks.

[Jonatas]

Keep this thread going, I never had this issue and just started having it all of a sudden!

[Jonatas]

Might really have something to do with audio because I just installed the audio drivers of the "new" motherboard I installed.

[Jonatas]

Quick update, I closed all steam windows (without exiting steam) and the computer went into standby.

[KaziTrashPanda]

I really can't believe this is still an issue....

[Malkyne]

I've been using Steam for many years, but weirdly, I only recently started having problems with this. powercfg -requests definitely reveals steamwebhelper.exe as the culprit, though.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Malkyne:

I've been using Steam for many years, but weirdly, I only recently started having problems with this. powercfg -requests definitely reveals steamwebhelper.exe as the culprit, though.

The beta now has a patch for it.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta#announcements/detail/1602634609618271838

[modQuad]

Almost 8 years later - still happening.on the main client.
Problem disappeared after updating to BETA client.

[Exel]

Originally posted by modQuad:

Almost 8 years later - still happening.on the main client.
Problem disappeared after updating to BETA client.

Same here. Haven't had the problem since switching to the BETA client. Why they haven't brought this update to the main client is incomprehensible.

Is there like one guy working on Steam updates or something?

[modQuad]

Edit: beta did not fix the issue for me, it was intermittent after all :(
Glad it worked for you though! :)

Edit2: rebooted PC after enabling beta and forcing client to launch to Library page instead of Store. Didn't make a difference, monitors & PC won't go to sleep. Closing Steam resolves this.
GOG it is. Not holding my breath for a fix.

I switched back to main install (non-beta) and the issue was still intermittent.

Then I found this Reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/a4f7wn/psa_if_your_pc_isnt_going_to_sleep_it_might_be/

^^ This insinuates that having the Store page open is the culprit ^^
I disagree with this assessment- tested it out by going into Steam > Settings > Interface > 'Select which Steam window appears when program starts' > LIBRARY. This forces the client to bypass the Store page when launching.

Monitors still didn't go to sleep. I close the Steam client and they go to sleep as expected.

I have switched to GOG Galaxy as my main launcher now, only launching Steam when I absolutely have to.

As a final test I could try the beta version with the client settings outlined above (Library window on launch) and report back. I'm not too optimistic at this point, though lol.

If that fails, the only other option would be to override Windows power settings per the Reddit post linked above. And I'm not doing that because I listen to a lot of music on my PC.

[Maverick]

I've had the problem of my computer not sleeping for quite a while. I've recently reinstalled Windows on a new SSD, and the problem went away. But, when I installed Steam, it came back.

Experimenting on my old computer (before I realised Steam was the problem) revealed that if I unplug the receiver for my Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse (2.4GHz Transceiver v7) then the computer slept.

After reinstalling, if I unplug the receiver, the computer sleeps with Steam open. If I close Steam, the computer sleeps with the receiver plugged in. If I leave Steam open and the receiver plugged in, the computer never sleeps.

Over to you, Valve.

[modQuad]

The manner in which the Steam client interacts with Windows Power Profile is problematic.
Wakelock queries via powercfg.exe don't indicate an issue with any hardware preventing monitors from going into power-save mode. I have removed Steam from auto-launching with Windows and have connected to my GOG account. I set GOG client to exit Steam whenever a Steam-owned game is exited. Problem solved, I guess.