How to Prevent Your Screen From Turning Off on Windows

If you find that your Windows computer screen is turning off too quickly and you want to prevent it from doing so, you can use the powercfg command to override the default power settings. This can be particularly useful if you’re watching a movie, giving a presentation, or working on a task that requires your screen to remain active for an extended period of time. Here’s how you can create, delete, and list power request overrides using the powercfg command.

Creating a Power Request Override

To create a power request override and prevent your screen from turning off, follow these steps:

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1. Open Command Prompt with administrative privileges. You can do this by searching for "Command Prompt" in the Windows Start menu, right-clicking it, and selecting "Run as administrator."

2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command:
   ```markdown
   powercfg /REQUESTSOVERRIDE process barrierc.exe display system

This command creates a power request override for a process named “barrierc.exe” and specifies that it needs to keep the display and system active.

3. Press Enter to execute the command. You should see a confirmation message indicating that the power request override was successfully created.

### Deleting a Power Request Override

If you want to remove a power request override and allow your screen to turn off based on the default power settings, follow these steps:

```markdown
1. Open Command Prompt with administrative privileges as mentioned earlier.

2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command to delete the power request override for "barrierc.exe":
   ```markdown
   powercfg /REQUESTSOVERRIDE process barrierc.exe

This command removes the power request override associated with the specified process.

3. Press Enter to execute the command. You should see a confirmation message indicating that the power request override was successfully deleted.

### Listing Power Request Overrides

If you want to view a list of all power request overrides currently set on your system, use the following command:

```markdown
powercfg /REQUESTSOVERRIDE

This command will display a list of all processes and their corresponding power request overrides. You can use this list to check which processes are preventing your screen from turning off.

By using these commands, you can have more control over your Windows power settings and ensure that your screen stays active when you need it to, without interfering with your computer’s default behavior.