Make Windows ask for Password on wakeup from Sleep

Protecting access to our Windows 11/10 PC is of paramount importance, and one way of doing it is protecting it with the help of a strong password. While most of us use a password to log in, quite a few do not care to protect it, when it resumes from Sleep or if you have gone away from it for a while. In this post, we will see how to make your Windows 11/10 PC require a password on wakeup from Sleep.

Sleep is a power-saving state that allows a computer to quickly resume full-power operation (typically within several seconds) when you want to start working again. Putting your computer into the sleep state is like pausing a DVD player; the computer immediately stops what it’s doing and is ready to start again when you want to resume working.

This post assumes that you have gone through the Power & Sleep settings of your Windows System settings and set your computer to Sleep after a period of inactivity.

Make Windows ask for Password on wakeup from Sleep

To make Windows 11 require you to sign in with a password on wakeup, follow these steps:

Press Win+I to open Settings
Click on Accounts > Sign-in option
Scroll down to Additional settings
Here against If you’ve been away, when should Windows require you to sign in select any of the following from the menu
- 15 minutes
- 5 minutes
- 3 minutes
- 1 minute
- Every time

That is all that needs to be done.

Read: Disable Ask for Password on Screen wakeup using command line

To make Windows 10 require you to sign in with a password on wakeup, follow these steps:

Open Settings > Accounts > Sign in options.
Here, under Require Sign in, you will see If you’ve been away, when should Windows require you to sign in setting.
The drop-down menu will offer you two options – Never and When PC wakes from sleep.
Select When PC wakes from sleep and you are all set!
If you select Never, your PC will not ask you to enter a password, when you resume it from Sleep.