1. Remove All Peripheral Devices

Interference from external peripheral devices connected to your computer can sometimes cause the keyboard to stop working after sleep. Hence, the first thing you should do is unplug all other peripheral devices, such as printers, webcams, headphones, and so on, and see if that fixes the issue.

2. Configure Power Management Settings for Your Keyboard

On Windows, you can specify which devices can wake your computer from sleep. If your keyboard lacks that permission, it may become unresponsive or stop working once Windows enters sleep mode.  Such issues can also arise if you’ve set Windows to turn off your keyboard device after a period of inactivity. Here’s what you can do to fix it. 

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open the Power User menu and select Device Manager from the list.
  2. Expand Keyboards. Right-click on your keyboard and select Properties. 
  3. Under the Power Management tab, clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power checkbox. Then, tick the checkbox that reads Allow this device to wake the computer. Then, click OK to save changes. 

3. Run Windows Troubleshooters 

Using the built-in troubleshooters is an easy way to tackle most issues on Windows, including this one. In this case, running the Keyboard and Power troubleshooters can help. 

  1. Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. In the System tab, click on Troubleshoot. 
  2. Select Other troubleshooters. 
  3. Click the Run button next to the Keyboard and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the process. 
  4. Next, click the Run button next to Power to fix any inconsistencies with your power plan that may have caused Windows to turn off your keyboard.  If the issue remains, you can run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter. It will scan all of your peripheral devices, including the keyboard, for any connection issues and attempt to resolve them. Here’s how to run it. 
  5. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic in the box and press Enter.
  6. Click Next to run the troubleshooter.
  7. If the automatic repair pops up, click on Apply this fix to proceed.  After running the troubleshooter, check if the issue is still there. 

4. Update or Reinstall Keyboard Drivers

Outdated or buggy keyboard drivers can also cause such anomalies. Hence, it’s always a good idea to keep the drivers on your PC updated to their latest version.  To update keyboard drivers on Windows, use these steps:

  1. Right-click on the Start icon to open the Power User menu and select Device Manager from the list. 
  2. Expand Keyboards, right-click on your keyboard, and select Update driver. 
  3. Select Search automatically for drivers and follow the on-screen prompts to finish updating the driver.  If the problem persists even after this, the keyboard driver may be corrupted. To fix it, you can follow the same steps above and uninstall the driver using Device Manager.  Restart your PC after removing the driver. Windows will automatically install the missing driver when it boots. 

5. Disable USB Selective Suspend

When USB selective suspend is active, Windows automatically suspends inactive devices in order to reduce power consumption. This can cause your keyboard to stop working after a period of inactivity. If you don’t want that, you must turn off the USB selective suspend feature by following the steps below.

  1. Press the Windows key + S to open the search menu. Type edit power plan in the text box and press Enter.
  2. Click on Change advanced power settings.
  3. Double-click on USB settings to expand it.
  4. Expand the USB selective suspend setting menu and click on Enabled.
  5. Use the drop-down menu next to On battery and Plugged in to select Disabled. Then, click on Apply followed by OK.

6. Reset Power Options

Misconfigured power settings can also cause your keyboard to stop working after sleep mode on Windows. An easy way to fix any irregularities with your power settings is to reset them. Here are the steps for the same.

  1. Right-click on the Start icon and select Terminal (Admin) from the list.
  2. Type the following command in the console and hit Enter. 

7. Reset BIOS

If resetting power options do not help, there may be an issue with your current BIOS settings. In that case, your only option is to reset the BIOS. Since the process varies for each computer depending on the make and model, it’s best to refer to the OEM’s website and follow the specific instructions outlined there.

Get Your Keyboard Working Again

It can be inconvenient if your keyboard stops working out of the blue. Hopefully, one of the fixes mentioned above was effective, and your keyboard is now operational. On the other hand, if the keyboard not working issue is limited to a few keys, you may have to implement workarounds to use the keyboard with the broken keys on Windows.