Surface Pro Battery Drains in Sleep Mode: Fixes You Can Try

The Microsoft Surface Pro offers the power of a laptop with the versatility of a studio and tablet, but it is not without its flaws. Many users have observed significant battery drain even when the device is in sleep mode. The question arises: What is causing this excessive energy consumption?

There’s something going on if the Surface Pro’s battery goes from 100 percent to zero in one night, particularly while the computer is supposed to be sleeping. Could it be the Bluetooth or another component that’s causing the unnecessary drain? Let’s have a closer look at why its battery drains fast in sleep mode and what you can do to solve the problem.

Solutions to Surface Pro Sleep Mode Battery Drain

The annoying issue here is the battery drain when the device is sleeping or merely in standby mode. Here are some potential reasons why this problem is occurring and their corresponding solutions:

Adjusting Your Power Options

Try to change the options from sleep to hibernate and see if that addresses the problem.

Checking the Power Mode Slider

Find the Power mode slider by clicking the battery icon on the Windows taskbar. For optimum battery life, this slider should be set to Recommended. For when you need to use the machine for extended periods of time while on battery, it should be on Battery Saver.

Running the Power Troubleshooter

Run the power troubleshooter and see if doing so resolves the issue successfully. Here are three simple steps:

1. Go to Settings > Updates & security > Troubleshoot.
2. Select Power.
3. Click Run troubleshooter.

Surface devices maintain a configurable Power mode defining the preference between Best battery life and Best performance. You should configure the setting separately for when the device is plugged and for when it’s running on battery. This allows setting the device to Best performance while on PSU, and automatically changing to a setting like Recommended while on battery.

Checking Settings for Battery Saver

Seek help from this troubleshooter to automatically find and fix related issues. Follow these steps:

1. Open Settings > System > Battery.
2. Make sure that Turn battery saver on automatically is enabled as well as set to at least 20 percent.
3. At the same time, check that Lower screen brightness while in battery saver is also turned on.

Checking Your App Usage

Programs that run unnecessarily can affect the general stability of your computer and even lead to slow system behavior. Here are the steps:

1. Go to Settings > System > Battery. Choose See which apps are affecting your battery life.
2. Select 6 hours, 24 hours, or 1 week in Time period, depending on which period lies closest to the reported issue.
3. Go to Show > Apps with usage. Review the apps with high battery usage, closing those that aren’t in use.

Don’t forget to clean out junk files and diagnose your Windows system optimally using a reliable third-party PC repair tool for your device’s tiptop performance.

Running the Sleep Study Tool

You can run “powercfg/sleepstudy” from the command line using admin privileges, and the system will come up with a report telling you if your CPU was running in full gear while your device was supposedly in sleep mode.

From here you can identify what’s eating up your Surface Pro battery while it should be on sleep mode.

Running SDT or Windows Updates

Visit this page for Surface Diagnostic Toolkit, or go to Settings > Updates & Security > Windows Updates > Check for updates for Windows Updates.

Looking at Windows Hello

According to Microsoft Support, Windows Hello is “a more personal way” to sign in to your Windows 10/11 computer with a simple look or touch. It affords you enterprise-grade security without the need to type in a password. Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, as well as most other computers with fingerprint readers already have Windows Hello, with the anticipation that more devices with facial and fingerprint recognition will be equipped in the future.

If your Surface Pro battery drains in sleep mode, it could be because of Windows Hello. To tackle this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click or tap on your user account picture. You may also type Accounts in Cortana and hit Enter.
3. Choose Change account settings.
4. Next, select Sign-in options.
5. Remove Windows Hello as your choice for when you sign in.

Updating Drivers

Have you tried manually downloading the latest drivers and firmware for your specific Surface model? If you haven’t, then see more information here and make the necessary updates.

Creating a Battery Report in Windows 10/11

Follow this guide:

1. Right-click on the Start menu.
2. Select Command Prompt (Admin). Remember to use the Admin version, not a regular command prompt.
3. A prompt will appear, so hit Yes to UAC prompt to give permission.
4. In the command prompt window, copy and paste this: powercfg/batteryreport/output “C:\battery_report.html”. The pros can designate the output toany directory, while to keep things simple, we are placing it in the C:\ root folder.
5. Via Explorer, proceed to C:\ aka the root directory. Once you find a file labeled html, double-click on it. This will open the file in your default browser.

Final Notes

It’s a major concern when you leave your Surface Pro charged at 100 percent and find that the battery is almost dead once you get back to it. We hope one of the fixes we enumerated above can successfully solve the battery drain during sleep mode that you’re experiencing with your Surface Pro.

Microsoft Support also provides a wealth of resources on different power-related Surface issues, including the following:

• How to properly charge your Surface
• What to do when Surface battery won’t charge or the device won’t run on battery
• Surface won’t turn on or wake from sleep

Do you also get this nasty battery drain in your Surface device? Let us know in the comments!