Most of the new laptops released in the past few years automatically start when you open the lid. For instance, my ThinkPad T450s automatically starts upon lifting the lid.

The feature is helpful as you don’t need to press the power button to start the laptop. Because of this feature, you will be able to resume your work almost instantly especially if you use the hibernate feature.

There is no option in Windows 10 or earlier versions to turn on this feature. That is, if your laptop doesn’t support it, you cannot enable it. However, there seems to be a way to turn off the feature.

There is no benefit in preventing the laptop from automatically starting upon opening the screen lid, but if you for some reason, want to prevent the laptop from starting upon opening the lid, you can do so under Windows 10 power settings.

Prevent laptop from turning on when you open the lid

Step 1: Right-click on the battery icon in the system tray of the taskbar and then click Power Options to open the Power Options window.

Step 2: In the left-pane, click Choose what closing the lid does link. Clicking the link will open System Settings window.

Step 3: In the Power and sleep buttons and lid settings section, you will see When I close the lid option. Select Nothing from the drop-down box next to it. Select Nothing for both “On battery” and “Plugged In” fields.

Click Save changes button.

Turn off your laptop. Close the lid and then open the lid again. The laptop should not automatically start.

The only catch is that you cannot use the lid to shut down, hibernate or sleep the laptop when you want to prevent the laptop from automatically turning on upon opening the lid.

Some laptops do offer an option in the BIOS to turn on or off auto-start feature.

You might also like to read our how to adjust the screen brightness in Windows 10 guide.