How to Change the Lock Screen and Screen Saver Timeout Settings on Windows

If the lock screen or screen saver turns itself on too quickly or slowly, here's how to adjust it to your liking on Windows.

The Windows lock screen usually displays images when you power on your device or wake it from sleep mode. By default, the lock screen will only appear for about a minute, and then your screen will go blank.

Meanwhile, the screen saver is an image or animation that appears when your PC has been inactive for a while. Just like the lock screen, the screen saver will also appear for about one minute.

Wondering how you can display the lock screen or screen saver for longer? This article will show you the various ways to change the Windows lock screen and screen saver timeout settings.

1. How to Change the Lock Screen Timeout Settings

Let’s take a look at how you can configure the lock screen timeout settings.

Use the Windows System Settings

The Windows system settings always come in handy in various situations. Let’s check out how you can use them to change the lock screen timeout settings:

1. Press Win + I to open the system settings.
2. Select the Personalization option from the menu items.
3. Click the Lock screen option on the left-hand side pane.
4. Scroll down on the right-hand side and click the Screen timeout settings option.
5. Next, click the On battery power drop-down menu on the right-hand side pane and select your preferred option.

Apply the same settings for the When plugged in option on the right-hand side pane. From there, close the system settings and restart your device to save these changes.

Use the Edit Plan Settings via the Control Panel

The Control Panel is a reliable Windows tool that helps you configure various system settings. We’ll show you how you can use it to configure the screen saver timeout settings.

In this case, we’ll focus on the Edit Plan settings within the Control panel.

1. To get started, type Control Panel in the Start Menu search bar and select the Best match.
2. Click the View by drop-down menu and select Small icons.
3. Select Power Options from the menu items.
4. Next, click the Change plan settings option on the right-hand side.
5. Locate the Turn off the display option. From there, select your preferred options on the On battery and When plugged in drop-down menus. Finally, click the Save changes button.

Use the Advanced Power Options (Control Panel)

You can also use the Control Panel's advanced power settings to configure the lock screen timeout settings. Simply follow these steps:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run command dialog box.
2. Type Control Panel and then press OK.
3. Select Power Options from the menu items.
4. Click Change plan settings. From there, click Change advanced power settings in the next screen.
5. Scroll down and click the Display option. Next, click the Turn off display after option.
6. Click the On battery option and configure the lock screen timeout settings using the arrow buttons. From there, apply the same settings for the Plugged in option.

When you finish, click Apply and then click OK. Finally, close the Control Panel and then restart your device to save these changes.

Use the Command Prompt

The Command Prompt is a reliable tool that can help you troubleshoot various system issues. Interestingly, this tool can also help you configure the settings on your device.

Here’s how you can configure the lock screen timeout settings using the Command Prompt:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run command dialog box.
2. Type CMD and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
3. Next, type the following commands—one at a time—and press Enter in each case:

powercfg.exe /setacvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_VIDEO VIDEOIDLE 60

powercfg.exe /setacvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_VIDEO VIDEOCONLOCK 60

The "60" in the command indicates how long (seconds) the lock screen will be displayed. If you want to increase the duration of the lock screen, apply the previous steps and change "60" to a different value of your choice.

When you finish, type the following command and press Enter:

powercfg.exe /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

Finally, restart your PC to save these changes.

How to Change the Screen Saver Timeout Settings

Now, let's explore how you can change the screen saver timeout settings.

Use the System Settings

Here's how you can change the duration of the screen saver using the system settings:

1. Press Win + I to open the system settings.
2. Type screen saver in the Settings search bar and select the Change screen saver option.

You can only change the screen saver timeout settings if you've already enabled the screen saver option. If the screen saver is disabled, click the Screen saver drop-down menu and select the relevant option.

From there, follow these steps to configure the timeout settings:

1. Click the arrow buttons on the Wait option to select the screen saver duration (in minutes).
2. From there, press Apply and press OK to save these changes.

Use the Local Group Policy Editor

The Local Group Policy Editor (LGPE) is an incredible tool that makes it easy to configure various system settings. Now, here's how you can use this tool to configure the screen saver timeout settings:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run command dialog box.
2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the LGPE.
3. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates> Control Panel > Personalization.
4. Double-click the Screen saver timeout option on the right-hand side.

In the next window, select the Enabled option. From there, use the arrow buttons next to the Seconds box to select the duration of the screen saver.

Press Apply, press OK, and then close the LGPE. Finally, restart your device to save these changes.

If you want to disable the screen saver settings, here’s what you need to do:

1. Navigate to the Personalization option as per the previous steps.
2. Double-click the Screen saver timeout option and select either the Disabled or the Not Configured option. Finally, press Apply, press OK, and then close the LGPE.

Tweak Your Lock Screen Timeout Settings Without a Hassle

Do you want to lock your PC and ensure that it doesn’t fully go into sleep mode? Try increasing the lock screen and screen saver timeout settings. To do this, apply any of the solutions we’ve covered.

From there, you can focus on other things such as how to automatically lock your Windows 11 PC when you’re away.