Ho do I change Sleep settings in Big Sur?

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Level 1

19 points

Ho do I change Sleep settings in Big Sur?

Just upgraded to Big Sur, and I can no longer find the settings to change how long before the MacBook goes to sleep. The Energy Saver option is gone from System Preferences, and Battery only seems to have options for Display Sleep, not Computer Sleep.

I need to the MacBook to not sleep (with the Display off) so my SONOS system can access the hard drive for my music.

Thank you for any help you can offer. This was never a problem until Big Sur.

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Jul 26, 2021 7:46 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

64,832 points

Jul 26, 2021 8:59 AM in response to Jeff Setzer

What is the value you get for sleep by running the following command in Terminal?

pmset -g

If sleep is off the value should be 0.

I am guessing that it is set to something like 20.

You can change that with

sudo pmset -a sleep 0

You will be asked for your password. Type it blindly (there will be no feedback as you type, not even ••• or ***), and press enter.

Run the pmset -g again to confirm the change has taken place.

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Answer 2

Jeff Setzer Author

Level 1

19 points

Jul 26, 2021 8:14 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Unfortunately, that's not it. I have that option checked. The display being off is not what's triggering Sleep. It seems to happen at 20 minutes each time, and I don't see anywhere to change that setting.

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Answer 3

Jul 26, 2021 9:16 AM in response to Jeff Setzer

Jeff Setzer wrote:

Sleep was 15, so I set it to 60 (assuming that's minutes until sleep kicks in?)

Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to try it out now.

Yes, it is supposed to be in minutes. Let us know how this goes.

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Answer 4

Jeff Setzer Author

Level 1

19 points

Jul 26, 2021 9:48 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Just played music from SONOS for 30 minutes with no shut down. Seems to have solved the problem.

Thank you again for your help and clear explanation of the Terminal commands (which I've hardly ever used.) This problem was really frustrating to me.

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Answer 5

Jul 26, 2021 7:55 AM in response to Jeff Setzer

There is a checkbox in the Battery pane of System Preferences that says “Prevent system from sleeping when the display is off” (or similar wording; not at my mac at the moment). Check it.

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Answer 6

Jeff Setzer Author

Level 1

19 points

Jul 26, 2021 9:13 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Sleep was 15, so I set it to 60 (assuming that's minutes until sleep kicks in?)

Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to try it out now.

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Ho do I change Sleep settings in Big Sur?

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