How to Boot and/or Wake Laptop with Lid Closed?

Framework Laptop 13
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#1

After taking a look at the growing list of compatible USB-C docking solutions, I’m considering a desktop monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. that I can just connect to the Framework with one USB-C cable for use at a desk, then with a single un-plug I’m ready to go mobile. However, I would want to run the laptop with the lid closed for aesthetic reasons. It seems that the laptop itself will function properly with the lid closed and in any orientation, but how would I activate the power button? If I open the lid to boot the laptop and then close the lid, won’t it just go to sleep? I suppose I could disable that somehow in software, but then I’d have to re-enable it as soon as I went mobile again so I could once again close the lid to put the machine to sleep. Or I guess I could only dock the laptop when it’s already booted and in sleep mode, so that I could wake it with the desktop keyboard once it’s plugged in - would that even work?

Bottom line: Is there a way to power up and/or wake the machine with the lid closed? Does anyone have any experience with this? It makes me miss the power button on older desktop Mac keyboards…

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USB-C/Thunderbolt Dock Megathread
#2

For Windows, you can change the default action for what happens when you close the lid on battery and when plugged in, it’s under “Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\System Settings”.
Lenovo has docks that feature a power button, but in my experience, you need to have a thinkpad to utilize it.

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#3

@taeyeon Thanks for the reply, but as far as Windows goes I’m solidly on the Linux side of the house!

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#4

This is something handled by the OS, so each distro would go about it a little differently. In Ubuntu, you can go to logind.conf and change HandleLidSwitch from suspend to ignore. The result should look like:
HandleLidSwitch=ignore

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#6

The lid close / open options in the power settings doesn’t seem to be there for me in Windows 11. But as a temporary solution I have just been restarting the laptop… then closing the lid as it is restarting and plugging in the dock or eGPU or what ever. by the time it boots up it’s running on the dock and won’t go to sleep lol.

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#7

It looks like this is partially a BIOS issue. Everything I’m seeing about this issue is that Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) allows this but needs to be managed at a BIOS level. I see guidance to “enable USB wake support” in the BIOS everywhere but I don’t have that option.

#8

Danny T
They have made it a bit harder to find but it is still there in Win11. Search for Control Panel and then using the Control Panel App, go to System and Security>Power Options and Select “Choose what closing the lid does”.

Feature Request: Wake from USB support in BIOS
#9

@OldCoastie68, hahaha… yeah, found that months ago but thanks anyways :stuck_out_tongue:

#10

For the original question: I’ve found that there is a “Power on AC attach” option in the bios, which allows the Framework to power on (from off/hibernate) when you attach power. This is what I’m using to power up the laptop in the morning (I’m using an AC outlet with a switch, so I can really cut power to the dock/laptop completely during the night, and then conveniently power it up again in the morning, though see Laptop powers *on* after hibernate when unplugging/unpowering dock for a small issue on powerdown with this approach).

Additionally, waking up the Framework from sleep also works for me, just by pressing a key on my external keyboard. Note that this probably does not work on TB3 dock, since a distinguishing new feature of TB4 is that it supports wakeup-from sleep (this is probably because TB3 tunnels USB2 traffic over TB, while with TB4 it just uses separate wires that can more easily stay active in sleep). I’ve tested this with the keyboard connected through my Caldigit TS4 TB4 dock, and the keyboard connected directly to a USB-A port.

I’m using Ubuntu 22.04.

#11

I am using Windows 11, docked probably 90% of the time. I would love to have it wake from its hibernation state when I move the mouse or hit a key - a Wake from USB thing would be great. Waking from sleep is no problem and works well, but when it goes into hibernate every night (which is fine with me, whatever - I know trying to change that is fraught with complications for some dumb reason) it would be nice not to have to open the laptop or detach and reattach the dock.

#12

It seems this is possible, for me it behaved like this by default under Linux (but it also woke up on dock poweroff, which was problematic for me, which I fixed by reconfiguring systemd to use the “shutdown” method instead of the “platform” method, see Laptop powers *on* after hibernate when unplugging/unpowering dock - #13 by Matthijs_Kooijman for details). No idea how this translates to Windows, though…

#13

Huh. Maybe it’s just my dock then? If the functionality is there in hardware, at least it’s conceivable.