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Tech News Today
Home » Windows

How to Close Laptop and Use External Monitor on Windows 11

Bhishu AcharyaBy Bhishu AcharyaDecember 20, 2022
how-to-close-laptop-and-use-external-monitor-on-windows-11

If you close your laptop while using an external monitor, there are high chances the device stops casting the content. This is because your laptop hibernates by default when you close the lid.

Well, most of us have faced this situation while giving a presentation or when trying to switch to a bigger screen. No matter what external device you’re using, the issue remains until and unless we change a few settings.

Indeed, you could simply leave the laptop as it is and continue working on your external monitor. However, this will drain your laptop’s battery. Therefore, we recommend you follow the steps below and start closing the lid next time you’re casting on another device.  

How Can I Close Laptop Lid and Use External Monitor on Windows 11?

Windows’ in-built feature helps you access all laptop content on an external device even when you close its lid. Let’s explore how anyone can do it on Windows 11.

Connect Windows 11 to an External Monitor

step-1-connect-computer

Firstly, the job is to connect our laptop to an external monitor. Depending on your device’s port, this can be done using wires like HDMI, VGA, or DisplayPort.

Here’s the step-by-step procedure to cast Windows 11 to an external monitor:

  • Insert one end of the wire into your computer’s port.
  • Then, insert the other end into the external monitor’s port.
  • Now, set the correct mode and arrange other settings on your external device.
  • Wait for your Windows 11 content to project on the screen.

Alternatively, you can cast your laptop to a wireless display as well. To learn more about it, read our other article.

Configure Power Settings in Control Panel

Now, try closing your laptop lid. Well, you must change your power settings if the external monitor or TV doesn’t display your content. Here’s how you can change power settings in about a minute:

  1. Launch Control Panel from Start Menu.
  2. Next, select Hardware and Sound.
    hardware-and-sound
  3. Now, go to Power Options and select Choose what closing the lid does.
    power-options
  4. Under the Power button and lid settings, you’ll find the When I close the lid option is set to Hibernate by default. Now, please change it to Do Nothing for both On Battery and Plugged In.
    when-i-close-the-lid
  5. Finally, click on Save Changes.

Alternatively, you can modify it from Change when the computer sleep option under Power Options in the Control Panel. If you want to explore more on how to use a TV as a monitor, we have another article ready for you.

Close Your Laptop Lid and Check

Finally, you can now close your laptop’s lid. For about a second, your device might go black. Apart from that, you shouldn’t face any issues while casting on an external monitor if your close lid option is set to Do Nothing.

Interestingly, we can even take control of the system from the connected external device. So, if you have a keyboard or mouse connected to your laptop, you do not need to open the laptop’s lid again.

How Can I Close Laptop Screen and Use External Monitor on Windows 11?

Sometimes, we might want to give authority to our secondary monitor. To do so, we can simply turn on the Second Screen Only feature available on Windows 11. Learn how to do just that:

  1. Click on the system tray on your Windows taskbar.
  2. Next, select the Project icon. Alternatively, you can simply press the Windows and P keys to launch it. Moreover, some laptops even provide a function key to open the Projection settings.
    project-icon
  3. By default, you will find that PC Screen Only is selected. Now, select the Second screen only option. This closes your laptop screen and passes the authority to the connected external device.
    second-screen-only

If you want to return the authority to your laptop, select PC Screen Only. Apart from the two options, we get two more features – Duplicate and Extend.

Well, the duplicate option displays the same thing you do on your laptop. This is simply the default feature when connecting your laptop with the external monitor. 

On the other hand, you can use Extend feature to create a big monitor. Here, both the screens get combined into one, and we can use it as a single screen.

External Monitor Doesn’t Work When I Close Laptop

For some reason, configuring power settings from Control Panel may not work on all the devices. Thus, some of us may experience issues using an external monitor while closing the laptop lid. 

Nonetheless, we have mentioned some general fixes in this section. Well, this will resolve the problems that prevent you from accessing content on an external device when the laptop lid is closed.

Turn off Hibernation From Command Prompt

If your laptop still hibernates when you close it, you can simply disable it from the Command Prompt. Go through the following commands to turn off hibernation on Windows 11:

  1. Firstly, launch Command Prompt from the Start Menu. Or, you can navigate to Run and type cmd.
  2. Now, simply type the command below:
    Powercfg /hibernate off
  3. Check if the issue still persists.

Restart Your Laptop

Sometimes, our PCs experience several faults. Often, these issues are fixed automatically when we restart the device. 

Thus, rebooting our laptop might do the trick and resolve all the problems holding us from casting our content on an external device.

Check Issues Using Power Troubleshooter

Did you know there’s a special troubleshooter for your Power and batteries? These steps will guide you to check issues using the Power troubleshooter on Windows 11:

  1. Navigate to Settings and visit System.
  2. Scroll down and choose Troubleshoot.
    system-troubleshoot
  3. Then, select Other troubleshooters, where you can find the Power option.
  4. Next, click on the Run button. This starts your Power troubleshooter.
    system-troubleshoot
  5. Now, the program scans your system and fixes all the possible errors. If there are no issues, it notifies you, “No changes or updates were necessary.“
    close-troubleshooter
  6. Finally, close the troubleshooter and check if your problem is solved.

Check and Update Batteries From Device Manager

If troubleshooting doesn’t work, there might be issues with your device drivers. Here’s a general guide to updating your battery driver on Windows 11:

  1. Right-click on the Start menu and choose Device Manager.
  2. Next, navigate to Batteries and double-click on Microsoft ACPI-Complaint Control Method Battery.
    battery-driver
  3. Check the Device status. If there are errors with the drivers, they will be listed there. Now, you can close the window.
    device-status
  4. Whether there’s an issue or not, right-click on the same driver again. Then, choose Update driver.
    update-driver
  5. Select Search automatically for drivers. 
  6. Once the update is complete, close it and check if the issue persists.

Alternatively, you can reinstall or re-enable the driver to fix your battery issues. Also, there’s an option to scan for hardware changes.

how-to
Bhishu Acharya
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Bhishu Acharya is a technical content writer at TechNewsToday. He specializes in monitors, laptops, storage devices, and other peripherals. Apart from computer hardware, you can also find his how-to and troubleshooting articles on Windows, internet, security, and networking. Ever since getting his hands on a personal computer, Bhishu started exploring its internal components at just 10. His growing curiosity led him to undertake the Computer Science & Information Technology degree and is just a year away from graduation. While balancing his study and work life for over four years, he has harnessed different sets of technical skills. With his expertise, he is now dedicated to helping netizens looking for hardware and software-related fixes. Today, Bhishu’s proficiency extends beyond computer hardware. In his spare time, he enjoys coding and learning new programming languages. You can contact him at bhishu@technewstoday.com

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View 4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. no on September 26, 2022 1:35 am

    Oh gosh, my laptop used to switch from 2 screens extended to external monitor screen only WHEN I CLOSED THE LID. Stuff is getting worse and worse. I blame those marketing fools.

    Reply
    • Bhishu on September 28, 2022 11:04 pm

      Hey no,
      As far as I know, your laptop screen should still switch from 2 screens extended to an external monitor screen only when you close your lid. However, this can’t happen automatically, as closing your laptop lid will send it to hibernate. Thus, if you really want to close the lid and still be able to use your laptop on an external display, you need to change your ‘Power button and lid settings’. Simply set the ‘When I close the lid’ option to ‘Do nothing’ for both On Battery and Plugged In. Then, save this change and you should be able to use your laptop on an external monitor. If this happened for you without tweaking the ‘Power button and lid settings’, it might be because you have disabled the hibernation feature.
      Hope this addresses any issue you’re facing. Have a good day!

      Reply
  2. Allyn on April 20, 2023 11:37 pm

    The option for “When I close the lid” is not available on the Windows 11 Pro. Is there a work around?

    Reply
    • Bhishu Acharya on April 21, 2023 1:19 pm

      Hello Allyn,
      If you do not see the “When I Close the Lid” option on your laptop, try adding this manually using the below CMD command (make sure you run the prompt as administrator):
      REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347\5ca83367-6e45-459f-a27b-476b1d01c936 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
      Restart your laptop and check if this has resolved the problem.

      If that doesn’t help, open Registry Editor and navigate to the following location:
      Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347\5ca83367-6e45-459f-a27b-476b1d01c936
      Move to the right pane and modify the Attributes DWORD to 2. If there’s no such DWORD, you can manually create one by right-clicking anywhere on the empty space and choosing DWORD (32-bit) value.

      Do let me know if you’re still facing the same problem.

      Reply

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