How to prevent laptop from sleep when lid closed

I have had similar problems with getting my macbook retina 2012 to stay awake when connected to an external TV through HDMI. - even with 3rd party applications my closed macbook goes to sleep when I put my TV into standby. I'm running Yosemite Beta - public release.

I found this but not been able to test it properly yet.

To begin running the caffeinate command and prevent your Mac from sleeping, open the Terminal located in /Applications/Utilities, then type the following command:

caffeinate

While this command is running, you will be able to close the lid on your Mac and still have OS X and your apps running and performing their tasks just as you would if the lid were to remain open.

To make the caffeinate command stop running and return your Mac to normal using either of the methods above, simply return to the command line and press the Control + C keyboard combination.

Will be trying this, and will let you guys know my findings.

Cheers

So far - not so good. My macbook won't sleep now when I close the lid over after deactivating caffeinate. It now goes to sleep after some time - rather than as soon as you close the lid - not sure what I have done.

I now have to manually put my mac to sleep before closing the lid to avoid it overheating in my bag.

As for when caffeinate is on - will need to test this still - the problem is when connected to a TV, when you close the macbook it will play a video no problem through the TV - however when you turn the TV off onto standby - the laptop also goes to sleep even with the - sleep function toggled to 'never' on the energy saver screen.

@matt_da_tiger:

Ok here's what I'm attempting to do....

I have a new MacBook Pro running 10.9.2.

I'd like to be able to access it with my IPad using Parallels Access with the lid closed. The same way I use it to access my Mac Mini with no keyboard or mouse connected and the monitor off.

I read through the thread and tried using the CAFFEINATE command from terminal. I've used every combination of command modifiers I can come up with and when I close the lid, the Pro goes offline in Parallels Access.

I have tried NOSLEEP or any of the other recommendations in the thread above. I thought I'd try the preinstalled feature first. Anyone ever used Parallels Access successfully with the lid closed on your MacBook Pro?

Yes you can with Parallels Access 2.0 (though I myself am still trying to figure out whether or not it is a good idea). Your MBP must be plugged into a power source, and you have to set the energy settings click the "enable power nap" and "wake for network access" checkboxs under power adapter. See here for pictures and a better explanation🙂

Wow! I can't believe we're having this conversation in 2014!

I am a Windows user who's just got his first Macbook Pro. And all I can say is I'm so utterly terribly disappointed at how primitive this Mac OS X operating system is.

I am a proud owner of an iPhone 5 and an iPad 3, and I have no hesitation in saying they are better than their Android competitors in both quality and ease of use. With the same expectations, I switched to a Macbook Pro this year. And what a disappointment it's been. I would happily return it if they would refund my money.

The "Don't sleep when lid is closed" option has been in Windows for ages. It is as basic a feature as "cut, copy and paste". People have been using Windows laptops with this setting turned on for ages. It's a MUST for a corporate user who has to frequently move around from his cube to others' cubes or conference rooms for meetings, because they have several applications running that require always-on connectivity, so the "save your work before you move" philosophy doesn't work here.

I'm a software engineer who has worked in large corporations like Cisco and Juniper Networks where thousands of people use Windows laptops with this setting on. In all these years, not once have I (or anyone I know) faced any problems like overheating or disks going bad that could be attributed to this setting.

This "Apple knows what's best for us" philosophy of fanboys harms Apple more than anyone else. It prevents them from firming up their deficiencies. OS X Mavericks is so far behind Windows 7 that you just can't imagine.

It is not a question of "use another OS if you don't like OS X". The point is - when you buy a laptop that costs 2-5 times of what its competitors charge, you expect everything that's standard on other laptops PLUS a little bit extra. Imagine, if you decide to go to a fancy expensive restaurant instead of a regular one, and what you get instead of better quality and more variety is a restrictive menu not having your favorite dishes on the grounds that "in our opinion, they are not good for your health."

As for me, I'm currently making do with the NoSleep extension which makes my Mac do what I want it to. Read my blog post for some of the other such shortcomings in OS X: http://www.vijaypadiyar.in/blog/2014/08/make-mac-osx-more-like-windows

As Ciao pointed out labor intensive apps will cause extreme heat build up thus causing damage ,even failure, I would only use this app for maybe music only. Thanks for your link for~ De Tune~ its nice to have the feature. I was leery about the install via Gatekeeper go around. but it works nicely😉

As Ciao pointed out labor intensive apps will cause extreme heat build up thus causing damage ,even failure, I would only use this app for maybe music only. Thanks for your link for~ De Tune~ its nice to have the feature. I was leery about the install via Gatekeeper go around. but it works nicely😉

There is a app called Nosleep you can install that will keep your system from sleeping when you close the lid. I have it installed on my MBP running OSX 10.10. You can download it here https://code.google.com/p/macosx-nosleep-extension/ I hope that helps.

Might I humbly suggest that if Apple wanted to "help" the less-informed user preserve the integrity of their laptop and data, that they might have considered a better functional design than heat vents that feed back onto/into the device. The hinge venting is possibly the dumbest heat ejection scheme in computing history.

Yeah Caffeinate didn't work. I was backing up using time machine and it said it would take an hour. I decide to turn on caffeinate and hoped it'd be done by the time I got home. Time machine stopped doing it's thing when I closed the lid and resumed when I opened it an hour later.

Seriously the only reason I can say this Macbook is the best laptop I've ever used is because of the trackpad. You put the trackpad on a windows machine and it'd be absolutely no contest.

I jut got this MacBook Pro 15in early 2011 and am sad that apple does not put as much engineering into this more expensive laptop than the comparable more inexpensive HP 9470m. Both have the same look and even though the apple has a much nicer feel, it apparently overhears much easier. At my old job, there were several occasions when I would accidentally not shutdown the HP 9470m and put it in my bag with several VMs running for 1-2 hours while I drove to another site or home. The HP 9470m still runs fine to this day having been put through a heavy work load in an enclosed space several times. Apparently this all metal design is purely aesthetic and not functional like the HP 9470m. Both had similar dual core i7 processors, 8gb of ram and SSDs. *** apple.

There are lots of reasons to keep running post lid-close. Run build jobs, don't disconnect ssh connections etc. Picking up a laptop and moving to a different room terminates many external connections that need to be re-established when you open the laptop.

Hi, will caffeinate work without the power adaptor plugged in?

We tried using nosleep but it seems it only works when the power adaptor is connected. Once you remove it and run on battery mode, close the lid THEN it goes to sleep.

I also read in this link:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/12271/should-i-disconnect-my-macbook-pr os-power-cord-when-the-battery-is-fully-charge

it's better to keep the power adaptor on in order for the cycle count not to increase??? ( Is there some kind of scientific explanation for this)

Don't leave any apps running that take high CPU loads with the lid closed. I had old 2007 MBP I used for a media device and set it up to run with the lic closed. My screen got too hot and it turned black, as did some of the case around the screen.

I completely agree with Jim and I am in the exact same boat at work and on the road. I would like to be able to close my computer for 30 minutes without it shutting off my programs and citrix connection, while I move around the office.

-Stephen

I agree with the sentiment expressed by Revacuate and Jim Robinsoln.

I first "drank the Apple Cool-Aid" six years ago and became an instant devote. Switching from a PC based system, the "elegance" and power made it easy to be seduced. Admittedly, with my upgrade to Yosemite I have been somewhat dismayed, however, in my opinion, Apple remains a superior product .

I find cranky diatribes sophomoric, so I will summarize my evolving (devolving ?!) opinion as briefly as possible ..

Apple, selling me a computer is not an opportunity to insert yourself in my life.

I do not like the trend that full functionality is only available through an ongoing interaction with Apple.

I paid for it, I want to take it home and do my thing. You stay in Cupertino designing great products.

You do that and I can assure the Lions share of my discretionary tech dollars.

I feel that diatribe a-brewin, so I won't mention that in the last six months I purchased a $400.00 phone and a $2800.00 laptop that are unable to share data via. bluetooth, despite the fact that both have the ability to send files to my HP ....

Revacuate, you are correct in saying that it is both simple and, to a high degree an industry standard, to allow the owner of the laptop to set the default behavior in regards to "lid up / lid down".

J