How to Turn Off Your Laptop Screen Without Putting It to Sleep

Sometimes you may want to turn off your laptop screen without shutting down the laptop itself. This can help save battery or simply allow you to run background tasks while the screen is off. In this guide, we’ll cover a few easy and effective methods for turning off your laptop screen on different operating systems.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Many laptops have a dedicated key combination for turning off the screen. Look for an icon resembling a screen or a light bulb on one of the function keys (F1-F12). You usually need to press it together with the Fn key.

2. Adjust Power Settings in Windows

In Windows, you can configure your laptop to turn off the screen when you close the lid without putting the laptop to sleep:

  1. Open the Control Panel and go to Power Options.
  2. Click on Choose what closing the lid does.
  3. Set the option "When I close the lid" to "Do nothing" for both "On battery" and "Plugged in" modes.

Now, when you close the lid, the screen will turn off, but the laptop will keep running.

3. Use Windows Commands

You can also temporarily turn off the laptop screen using a command:

powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport("user32.dll")]^ public static extern bool LockWorkStation();' -Name a -Pas)::LockWorkStation()

This command locks your desktop, and the screen will turn off after a few seconds without putting the laptop to sleep.

4. Third-Party Tools

If the built-in options don’t meet your needs, try third-party utilities like NirCmd. These tools allow you to quickly turn off the screen using desktop shortcuts or simple commands.

5. Turning Off the Screen on macOS

On a MacBook, you can turn off the screen using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Eject (or Ctrl + Shift + Power on newer models). Additionally, you can set up "Hot Corners" in the Mission Control settings to automatically turn off the screen when you move the cursor to a specific corner.

6. Using "Second Screen Only" Mode

If you’re using an external monitor, you can switch to "Second screen only" mode to turn off your laptop screen:

  1. Press Win + P and select "Second screen only".

This is particularly useful when working with an external display and you want to disable the built-in laptop screen.