How to configure the lockscreen display timeout on Windows

Microsoft's Windows operating system includes a set of power options that define, among many other things, when the screen is turned off. You can configure Windows to never turn off the screen when the device is connected to a power source.

If you do lock the screen occasionally or even regularly, you may have noticed that the setting is not honored by the operating system when you lock the system.

Windows turns off the display after 60 seconds when the system gets locked regardless of power settings. The display gets turned off in locked system state even if you have configured Windows to never turn off the display when the device is connected to a power source.

Windows comes with a hidden option in the Windows Registry to change that. You may edit the Registry to add a new option to the power configuration so that you may change the timeout value of the display when the system is locked.

You may like to see the date and time displayed by Windows on then lockscreen, get a glimpse of recent notifications, or simply check out the most recent desktop background, and that requires a different timeout setting to block Windows from turning off the screen when the account gets locked.

Note: The tweak applies only to the lockscreen when a user locks the computer. It does not apply to the lockscreen on start or when a user signs out.

Configure the lockscreen display timeout on Windows

The very first thing you need to do is make a change in the Windows Registry to unlock the new power configuration setting.

Note: I recommend that you create a backup of the Registry or even the whole system before you make changes to the Registry. While that is usually safe to do, editing the wrong value may lead to all kinds of issue including a non-booting operating system.

Here is how you do that:

1. Tap on the Windows-key, type regedit.exe and select the result to load the Windows Registry editor.
2. Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlS et\Control\Power\PowerSettings\7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99\8EC4B3A5-6868-48c2-BE75-4F3044BE88A7
3. Double-click on the Attributes value.
4. Set it to the value of 2.

Tip: You can undo the change at any time by resetting the value to 1. Just perform the operation outlined above and set it to 1 instead of 2. Doing so restores the default status quo.

The values:

• A value of 1 means that the setting is not displayed in the Power Options.
• A value of 2 means that the setting is displayed in the Power Options.

You don't need to restart the PC after you make the change as the change is active right away.

We have created two Registry files for you that you may use to enable or disable the feature in the Registry. Click on the following link to download the Registry file to your device: lockscreen-display-timeout.zip

Configure console lock display off timeout

The new option is added to the power plan configuration. Even desktop PCs that are always connected to a power source use a power plan on Windows.

1. Tap on the Windows-key, type powercfg.cpl and hit the Enter-key. Doing so opens the Power Configuration on the Windows device.
2. Select the "change advanced power settings" option on the "Edit Plan Settings" page. Note that you may change the display timeout and computer sleep timeout on the page if you want to adjust the values.
3. Select Display > Console lock display off timeout when the new Power Options window opens.
4. Adjust the timeout setting as you see fit. The lowest value is 1 minute.

You can try the new setting immediately by using Windows-L to lock the screen.