Windows 10 May 2019 update (1903) breaking sleep
Wednesday, October 2. 2019
This happens pretty much on every Windows 10 update. Last time I wrote about it was for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709). The blog post is here.
Yes, again this absolutely ridiculous waking up begun. None of my previous fixes/hacks/duct tape/bubble gum patches worked. For weeks I either shut down my PC or just suffered on random power-ups.
When your Windows pops up from sleep, there is one very simple command to figure out why it happened. This is something that has worked for years in multiple Windows-versions: powercfg.exe /waketimers
(btw. you need to run that with Administrator permissions, regular user won't cut it.)
The result in each case was something I didn't expect to see:
Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume6\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\StartMenuExperienceHost.exe expires at on .
What the hell is StartMenuExperienceHost.exe and why would I need it for anything? I have no clue. Also, why would I need that unknown piece of crap so badly it can wake my computer up? Again, no clue. Honestly, I would delete the darned file if it wasn't part of Windows system. Given the protected status of system files I really cannot rip the junk off. Unfortunately.
This harrasment kept going on for weeks as I was researching for a solution. Most of the suggested fixes are about Troubleshooter, Power or disabling Wake Timers or Automatic Maintenance's option Allow the scheduled maintenance to wake up the device at the set time. Neither of those really help.
This works!
Finally I cracked it! While looking for things to try, I stumbled into Microsoft community discussion System keeps waking. ShellExperienceHost.exe. Build 17074. There one of the suggestions was to check the Local Group Policy. There is Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Updates > Enabling Windows Update Power Management to automatically wake up the system to install scheduled updates. Setting it to Disabled makes the difference!
I have to agree with a comment in Reddit:
Microsoft needs to provide a simple, global switch to NEVER EVER under any circumstances wake the PC up from sleep/hibernation as if the PC was shutdown and unplugged from the wall.
Its really puzzling to try and understand why such an option doesn't exist.
angel on :
Jari Turkia on :
When speaking specifically about Windows update check task. You simply cannot disable it. Suggestion: Read the above blog post about the impossibility of disabling the scheduled task.
joe o sullivan on :
Until woke up this morning to my pc and screen on again!
Wake timer tells me it was the StartMenuExoerienceHost. I checked all my usual things like task scheduler, and wake timer in power options and, as above, in GPEdit, and they're all still disabled.
Looks like Microsoft found another way around these to piss us off again..
Gordon Freeman on :
Disabling wake timers in the power plan hasn't been enough for me for years, and changing the task setting requires some psexec magic, but even that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I'll try your gpedit magic.
Some time ago I also had trouble preventing mouse movement from waking up the computer... It took me some time but eventually figured out that one of the many HID keyboard devices was actually... my mouse.
Essentially you're right though it's not really about every single possible fix, which often stops working the next version of Windows. It's about Microsoft's attitude towards sleep. They seem to consider that waking up a desktop computer (at 1:25 by default!!!) is not such a big deal, because desktop computers are for professional use not for home use. Maybe they've never been a student sleeping next to their desktop. Maybe they've stopped using desktops altogether. But in any case anything that looks like a workaround to us looks like an oversight to them and will eventually be "fixed".
Getting "shut down your computer instead of sleep" as a recommended fix says it all: desktop usage isn't that important anymore.
Manie on :
I have my work machine on UPS. On Power loss, hibernate. This is great because it does its best to save state. Then the machine wakes up 2 seconds later thanks to some new timer, and then suffers a power loss, often causing a startup failure and losing the previous state.
I want a 'hibernate then fully power off and don't switch on until I hit the power button'. setting
benjamin on :
Anyway, I was looking to see if I could leave the power settings as-is and just disable the StartMenuExperienceHost, this posting allowed me to do exactly that. Thanks so much for both researching and documenting this! 😊
Lugal.V on :