Having the hardest time finding the answer to this. But I think I've figured it out. I just need some additional help. This is the only forum on the planet that I think I'll get some real answers from.
On my desktop, running Windows 11, when my screen goes to sleep and I wake it up, it does not go to the lock screen.
On my laptop, running Windows 11, when my screen goes to sleep and I wake it up, it DOES go to the lock screen.
Both of these are running a fresh Windows 11 install. There is zero differences in the way I've configured anything. The laptop does not have the screen saver trick enabled to lock the computer. It does not have the registry key created to lock the computer after idle for a specific amount of time. It does not have any group policies in place (both systems are running Windows 11 Home).
The ONLY difference is one is a desktop and one is a laptop. And Windows knows it. When I reformat my computers, I leave the computer names that Windows auto generates. And on the desktop, it named it DESKTOP-XXXXXX and on the laptop it named it LAPTOP-XXXXXX.
I've realized that there must be an undocumented setting in the OS that locks windows on screen sleep on laptops, but not on desktops. Is this correct? How does the Windows fresh install determine if a computer is a desktop or a laptop? And where is it putting in this switch so that laptops lock on screen sleep?
The much hated AI for the win: Copilot tells me that you can find these settings here:
These settings are not available if Windows Hello is on, so it might be grayed out on your device.