How to Shutdown or Sleep Windows 10 With a Keyboard Shortcut

Have you ever found yourself looking to turn your computer off or put it to sleep without a mouse? Maybe you’re in search of a Windows sleep shortcut because your mouse isn’t working, or perhaps you just want to work more efficiently.

We’ll show you how to put your computer to sleep with only the keyboard or shut it down just as easily.

Method 1: Use the Power User Menu Shortcut

The most reliable Windows 10 sleep shortcut isn’t a true keyboard shortcut—rather, it’s a quick sequence of keys. However, because it works without any setup and while using any app, it’s the best method in most cases.

Press Win + X to open the Power User Menu. You’ll notice underlined characters corresponding to shortcut keys for those actions. Press U, then use one of the following keys to shut down, sleep, or perform other power actions:

• Press U again to shut down Windows.
• Hit the R key to restart.
• Press S to put Windows to sleep.
• Use H to hibernate.
• Hit I to sign out.

Method 2: Alt + F4 Sleep Mode Shortcut

As you might know, pressing Alt + F4 closes the current window, just like clicking the X in the top-right corner. However, if you don’t have a window currently selected, you can use Alt + F4 as a shortcut for sleep in Windows 10.

To make sure you don’t have any apps in focus, press Win + D to show your desktop. From there, tap Alt + F4 and you’ll open the Shut Down Windows dialog box.

Depending on your system, you’ll likely see Shut down or Sleep in the dropdown box by default. If you’re happy with this, just hit Enter to confirm the selection. Otherwise, use the arrow keys to switch to other options, then hit Enter when you’re ready.

If you didn’t know this trick, have a look at other tips for enhancing the Windows 10 shutdown process.

Method 3: Create Your Own Shortcut to Sleep Windows 10

While there’s no built-in sleep shortcut for Windows 10, you can make your own keyboard shortcut pretty easily.

Creating a New Shortcut

To do this, start by right-clicking an empty spot on your desktop and choosing New > Shortcut.

In the resulting box, you’ll need to enter different text depending on whether you want a sleep shortcut key or one to shut down the computer. Use the following:

• To shut down Windows immediately and force-close any open programs:
  • shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f
• To create a sleep shortcut:
  • rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

Unfortunately, there’s a small caveat with the sleep shortcut. If you have hibernation enabled on your computer, this command will cause the computer to sleep instead of hibernating. See our explanation of hibernation in Windows to learn how to disable this.

After you enter the command, click Next, give the shortcut a name, and click Finish.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to the Command

Now that you have a shortcut to the option you want, you just need to assign it a key combination. To do this, right-click your new shortcut on the desktop and choose Properties. Select the Shortcut tab at the top and in the Shortcut key, enter a combination that you’d like.

You should pick something that’s not already in use by other programs. In addition, make sure the shortcut combination you set isn’t easy to hit by accident, as you won’t want to suddenly shut down your system in the middle of working.

When you’re done, click OK and your Windows sleep keyboard shortcut or shutdown shortcut will be active. If you ever decide you don’t want it, just delete the shortcut file.

Sleep or Shut Down With Ease

Now you know several sleep mode shortcuts to easily shut down or put Windows to sleep. This makes it easy to access power options without fiddling around in menus.

If you’re looking for a non-keyboard method, check out how to customize the power button in Windows 10. We’ve also shown how to fix issues with Sleep Mode on Windows if you’ve run into problems.

Read the full article: How to Shutdown or Sleep Windows 10 With a Keyboard Shortcut