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Can I disable "wake on lid open" on my MacBook?

My Mac has a rather flaky lid catch and I'd love to figure out a way that I can disable the "wake on lid open" capability of the MacBook. I understand that there is some sort of solution, but for the life of me I can't find anything!


Dave's Answer:

It's possible that there's a way to do this with a Mac application, but the only way I know to change this setting is from the command line in the Terminal application (Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal.app).

Open it up and type in the following command:

$ pmset -g
Active Profiles:
Battery Power -1*
AC Power -1
Currently in use: sms 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
acwake 0
sleep 30
halfdim 1
hibernatemode 3
disksleep 10
displaysleep 10
lidwake 1
lessbright 1

The key setting there is lidwake which is enabled, as you can see by its "1" value. To disable this particular setting you need to use the "pmset" command again, but this time you need to be the administrator since you're actually changing something:

$ sudo pmset -a lidwake 0
$

Now if you run the "pmset -g" command again you'll see that the "lidwake" setting is zero, not one. That's all you need to do. Now, until you use the command to reset the value to 1, you'll have a Mac that doesn't wake up when you open the lid.

By the way, while we're looking at the "pmset" command, note that there are a number of other settings you can tweak, including the time-to-sleep, whether your screen should dim, and a lot more. Check out the man page for the command (type "man pmset") and scroll down to the bottom to read all the examples. Very useful utility!

By the way, my PowerBook had the same problem with a flaky screen latch, a problem worsened by the screen warping. I finally ended up always leaving it screen-down and having a tightly-fitting fabric envelope to keep the unit closed in my computer bag. It would have been a far smarter thing to have known about "pmset", however!

Good luck to you!


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Categorized: Mac OS X Help   (Article 7267, Written by )
Tagged: mac os x, macbook, macbook pro, power management, powerbook
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Reader Comments To Date: 6

Daniel Gray said, on March 19, 2007 9:44 AM:

Great stuff, Dave ... thanks! The latch on my trusty old iBook gave up the ghost ages ago. I thought about going for the impromptu (you can do anything with) duct tape latch, but wisely tossed the idea aside ...

Mark said, on February 4, 2009 1:59 PM:

I have been having a problem with my Macbook Pro waking up on it's own while in my backpack because of moving around or whenever it is moved while asleep, this usually leads to over heating and my battery dying.

So after a quick Google search I found this page and I am now thanking you. :)

Nick said, on February 22, 2009 6:46 PM:

Thank you very much! I've been having the same problem as Mark (2/4/2009), and I think this will put my mind at ease when my MBP is asleep in my backpack.

c s said, on March 7, 2009 12:21 PM:

thank you so much, I wish I would have found this website earlier, it would have saved me so much time thank you!!!

Jim said, on September 14, 2011 10:38 PM:

I was wondering if there was a way to set it up so that when I closed the lid on my macbook it would go to sleep and when I opened it it would wake up. Right now I close it and it goes to sleep but to wake it up I have to hit the power button and then wait for it to go through the motions of waking up. Please help

Paul said, on July 13, 2012 8:01 PM:

got an old macbook 13" I think the switch is bad to wakeup screen when lid is opened. right now got it hooked up to big tv computer works ok. I can see shadows but that is it. can you tell he how to fix this

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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