Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Turn Off the Monitor
Have you ever wanted to hit a shortcut key to turn off the monitor? Sure, you can use the Win+L combination to lock the screen, but that leaves your monitor on… and those of us with multiple monitors find it a pain to hunt down the power buttons all the time.
First we’ll show you how to simply power off the monitor, and then how to both lock and power it off.
Create a Shortcut to Turn Off the Monitor
To create this shortcut, we’ll first need to grab a tiny multi-purpose utility called NirCmd from the great folks over at NirSoft. This Swiss-army knife tool can do an amazing array of tasks, including powering off the monitor. All we really need to do is create a shortcut to it.
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose New \ Shortcut:
Then you’ll want to browse to the location where you saved the nircmd.exe file, and add the following arguments:
“C:\path\to\nircmd.exe” cmdwait 1000 monitor off
Make sure the path has quotes around it, and then you add the extra arguments, which will wait 1 second before powering off the monitor (otherwise Windows might misinterpret your last keystroke and wake back up).
Next you can go into the shortcut properties and assign a shortcut key, and then click Change Icon to pick a better one than the default.
In Vista, at least, there’s a great icon for turning off the monitor… pick the somewhat ugly one from the list below:
And when the icon actually shows up, it’s nice and shiny. Of course you are free to pick your own icon instead.
Lock the Workstation Too
For extra credit, you can create a shortcut that both locks the workstation as well as turns the monitor off. Unfortunately the Nircmd way involves more steps than necessary in Vista (in my testing, at least), so I’ve created a tiny executable called LockAndPowerDown.exe that will do both in one step.
To install it, simply download and extract the executable, and create a shortcut to it just as you did in the step above. To find the same icon, click on Change Icon, and then paste in “C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll” into the browse box.
The application is written in AutoHotkey and the source code is included in the download file. Enjoy!
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This works for XP as well and through my KVM switch.
Strange, my monitor has a power button that does the same thing…
@bg1256
Yes, but when you have 3 monitors, it’s more of a pain… and what about people with laptop screens? Constantly closing the lid wears out the hinges.
Hi! Great tip! I also tried wizmo along with nircmd but I still cant find an option to turn off only ONE of my two monitors. (Dual monitor setup in vista, CRT monitor and TV).When I use these options, My TV also blanks out (because video signal to ALL monitors is cut out, i guess) I only want to turn off/on my CRT, not my TV. Any ideas how to do that?
Hello, you can also lock your workstation by creating a shortcut to “rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation”.
See http://www.microsoft.com/windo.....oll1.mspx.
what does “add arguments” mean?
will it work with laptop screen too?
Wizmo, dudes. Old school. Does a million other things too.
do you mind share your autohockey script (not just .exe) too?
i’d love to learn how it’s done.
thanks!
Is there a way to customize your green “H” Icon?
windows key+ L = locks up
Thanks, this is a quick fix for my laptop, its an old laptop, but reliable none the less and its switch to let the computer know that the screen has been closed broke a while back, so my screen was just constantly on and eating battery power…and windows will only turn off the screen if im not doing something so this is great!
Hi,
I am currently using Window vista. Since I install new virus software “McFee”, I have problem with my computer “freeze my internet” unless I have to shutdown my computer and log in again. Anyone, pleas help!!
Elizabeth
Thank you very much.
I use ahk quite a lot in my daily life, and turning off 3 monitors has become somewhat tiresome. This little trick is very useful indeed.
Press the “Sleep” button… works for me turns of monitor and drives. Does take a few more seconds to come back to life.
Thank you, this works very well and will help me save battery life while in class. Thanks again.
I’m going to find LockAndPowerDown very helpful on my office computer. Since I don’t use Autohotkey, the exe file is much appreciated. Thank you!
why does it keep failing to copy to the windows directory
help please
The on/off button on my monitor is broken, so this utility is great!
Unable to change shortcut key setting from None. Running Windows Vista Home Premium. Any idea on how to correct this anomoly?
Will this work w/ Vista 64bit?
My monitor power button Is broken, if I turn if off via this method, can I turn it back on?
argh, im running Windows vista 64bit!
damn…
LockAndPowerDown is exactly what I was looking for – very many thanks!
I am too lazy to use three key combi (Ctrl + Alt + ) for my hotkey instead of one.Besides I use a AgataSoft Hotkey Manager which does not have support for arguments.So, I created a .bat batch file and copied the Target part of the above mentioned shortcut and voila, my laptop screen turns off at F7
Thank you.
I just try the LockAndPowerDown.exe on my dualmonitor and Seven RTM.
It works very well…
Great tip
thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!
do u know much it drives me nuts when i hop into bed and go to sleep and wake up with the screen on but dont wanna shut down the computer
Great!
So far, I used utility nircmd from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
nircmd.exe monitor off
nircmd.exe lockws or %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
bur for some reason unknown, a few weeks ago nircmd changed its behaviour and the “monitor off” let the nircmd “hanging” and I had to kill the process, or I have one hanging nircmd process for every use of it, and locking does not happen at all of course.
Wizmo does not terminate itself before it switch the monitor up, which makes unable to sleep the computer
automatically (using %windir%\System32\rundll32 powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState
or nircmd.exe standby for instance).
Two other “monitor off” application I found on the Net
( http://www.koding.co.uk/index.php?page=monoff, http://www.jimbug.org/downloads/download.htm )
makes trouble when the computer go sleep while the monitor is off – after wake the computer up, monitor stay black.
LockAndPowerDown.exe makes no trouble in all combination with sleep/wake up the computer attempts I have tested and it makes exactly what I need. Some blocking of mouse would be great, but it would demand do not terminate the program immediately when the monitor is off, which would necessary interfere with attempts to sleep the computer automatically I am affraid, which I use very often.
Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I was looking for. I like to watch stuff in bed, as it helps me fall asleep, and getting up to turn off the monitor ruins that. Wireless keyboard ftw!
Oh my gosh! THIS IS A MUST for those who have laptops!! Thank god I found this when my laptop is still new… otherwise the hinges would be worn VERY easily over time…
Anyway to do a hotkey to turn on and off, but only for the second monitor, not the primary?
I’m blind and wouldn’t mind using my laptop with the screen turned off almost all the time. I’ve tried the nircmd monitor off command. However, as soon as a key is pressed, the screen is back on. Is there a way to keep the screen turned off until you ask it to come on?