Today’s laptops can last at least for a day with regular usage, so users can take the laptops out of the house and use them anywhere they go, no need to recharge the laptop again. However, many notebook users are reporting battery drain issues in Windows 11 after the most recent Windows update. Battery drain has remained constant in each version of Windows, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here, here, Windows 11 is no exception to battery drain.
The latest edition of the Microsoft operating system unveiled a brace of additional characteristics and enhancements. Increased performance is required as a result of the additional features and enhancements, and that is why battery drain has become an issue. However, there are many other suggestions and ideas for keeping your Windows 11 laptop running while you are using it, here you can find how to How to Install and Use iTunes on Windows 11.
Why do Battery Drain Issues Occur in Windows 11?
Most of you must know that the latest version, Windows 11, also can provide smoother and newer animations, a handful of new features, and many other improvements. Still, at times these features tend to consume a lot of power from your system and result in more battery life.
Sometimes, incompatibilities between your laptop configuration, as well as the specifications of the newest Windows Operating System, can result in battery drain. Windows 11 doesn’t support old laptops, and therefore installing it forcefully on our aged devices may also result in fewer battery performances.
Fix Windows 11 Battery Drain Issue
The easiest method to fix battery drain issues on Windows 11 is to change your notebook’s power settings, use the power-saving mode, and close background apps that are not needed.
There are several other methods to tackle this problem such as lowing your screen brightness, updating Windows, using the dark theme, automatically checking the troubleshooters. Now, let’s see these feasible methods to resolve the battery drain issue of Windows 11 on your laptop.
1. Adjust Screen Brightness
Reducing the brightness of the screen will also dramatically extend your laptop’s battery life. You will just have to regulate it to a certain percentage that does not affect the visibility of the items on the screen and yet saves a lot of power to give you more time. In short, you will basically have to tryitmany more times to ascertain which percentage of the given brightness serves you well. So it is a form of trial and error.
1. To adjust the brightness, hit the Windows button on your keyboard and select Settings from the various options.
2. Inside the Settings, click on the Display settings and then on Brightness.
3. Here, you can adjust the slider left or right to increase or reduce the brightness of your laptop’s screen.
4. Another way to adjust the brightness of your device is by pressing the Windows + A keys at the same time.
5. This will bring a menu where you can adjust multiple settings like brightness, sound, network, and more.
As we’ve mentioned above, reducing the brightness of your system will significantly improve the overall battery life. It should essentially add at least two to three more hours to the overall usage.
2. Change Display Time Out Settings
The other thing you could do with the display settings is configure how and when it turns off to save power. In addition, you can also adjust the settings for the lock screen time out.
1. Push Windows + I keys on your keyboard at the same time to open settings.
2. In the left pane, go the System tab and hit the Power & Battery option.
3. From there, click on the Screen and Sleep option under the Power section.
4. Now choose the number of minutes the screen turns off on battery power.
Once done with this process, your computer’s screen will turn off after the number of minutes you have set in the power settings. This will certainly save a lot of battery whenever you are away from your laptop.
3. Configure Lock Screen Time Out Duration
As for the lock screen time out settings, follow the steps mentioned below.
1. In the same power settings mentioned in the above method, you will have multiple other options to conserve battery.
2. One of the options reads “On battery power, put my device to sleep after”.
3. Click on this option and choose the minimum amount of time available there, like two minutes.
Now, whenever you are not using your computer even for two minutes, then it will automatically enter in to the sleep mode to save the battery life.
4. Switch to the Dark Theme To Save Power
The Windows 11 system has a new mode called Dark Theme, and it can really save power. In case you use a laptop with an OLED screen panel, then your device will work even longer with the dark theme. Moreover, the dark operating system will be less harmful to the eyes if you will work with the notebook in the evening light.
1. Open Settings of the computer by going through the Windows button on your keyboard.
2. In the left pane, open the Personalization tab and look for the colour option.
3. Here, you can change the theme of your laptop to Dark under the Choose your mode option menu.
The Dark Theme or mode consumes much less power than the usual Light theme. So proceeding with the aforementioned solution will increase your laptop’s battery life for sure.
5. Turn Off Fast Startup
I would also recommend that if you are using the fast startup feature of your system, it will consume a higher rate of battery. Your computer will consume more power to make the boot time fast. Hence, I suggest you should turn off the fast startup mode, this will also help in enhancing your Windows 11 device’s battery life.
1. Go to the search bar of your laptop and type “control panel”.
2. Open the first option that comes up and then click on Hardware and Sound properties.
3. Now hit the Power Options and click on Choose what the power button do option.
4. Here, you will get a handful of options in the shutdown settings.
5. From there, just uncheck the Turn on fast startup option.
Disabling the fast boot up setting will conserve some power, which can be used for other processes. You can reboot your system to see if there’s any bump in the battery performance of your laptop after applying this solution.
6. Change Closing the Laptop Lid Settings
You could have the battery drain issues in Windows 11 if you don’t have the right settings for the display. Whenever you close your laptop’s lid, it could still be consuming power. So you can change settings related to closing the laptop lid to increase the battery life.
1. To do this, go to the power settings.
2. Here, under the Power button and lid settings menu, set the When I close the lid option to sleep.
So, whenever you will close the lid of your notebook, it will automatically go in to the sleep mode. This should help improve the battery life of your laptop to some extent.
7. Run the Power Troubleshooter
Windows 11 comes with a handful of built-in troubleshooters for various settings. You can fix Windows 11 battery drain issue by running the power troubleshooter.
1. To do this, type “troubleshoot” in the search bar of your system and click on the Troubleshoot settings option.
2. Here, click on the Other troubleshooters option in the right pane.
3. Now, scroll down towards the bottom of the settings to find the Power troubleshooter and run it.
Now your operating system will automatically troubleshoot any problems with the power settings. Once complete, it will apply any available fixes to improve the battery life, which you should observe after rebooting the device.
8. Close Unnecessary Background Apps
Sometimes, some unnecessary applications run in the background on your machine, which could eat a lot of power. You can turn any unnecessary application by opening the Task manager on your computer.
1. Right-click on the Start button of your computer’s desktop.
2. From the bunch of the options, hit the Task manager button.
3. Here you will see the list of all the applications running on your system.
4. You can forcefully close any of the unnecessary apps here by right-clicking on them and hitting the End task option.
You can simply shutdown any of the apps that you don’t need to use at a particular time from the task manager. This will increase the battery life of your notebook significantly.
9. Enable Battery Saver Mode
You can always enable the battery saver mode in settings to address battery drain issues in Windows 11. Essentially, this mode will disable particular, but not all, alerts, as well as prohibit apps from instantly refreshing in the back. This mode will give you the additional battery life you require when you wholly run out of power.
1. Open the Settings of your device by pressing Windows + I buttons at the same time.
2. From the multiple options in the System tab, click on Power settings.
3. Here, click on the drop-down icon sitting alongside the Battery saver option and click on Turn on now.
4. You can also click on the Turn battery saver on automatically at option and choose the battery percentage at which you want your device to start it.
5. Also, make sure that you turn on the Lower screen brightness when using battery saver feature from the list of the options in the power settings menu.
By enabling the battery saver mode, your computer will consume less power automatically, as it will be stopping apps to refresh in the background.
10. Change the Screen Refresh Rate
You can also reduce the screen refresh rate of your notebook to fix the Windows 11 battery drain issue. Basically, your system will consume more power if it has a high screen refresh rate. So, here’s how you can reduce your system’s refresh rate.
1. First, open the Settings app by going through the Start button.
2. In the right pane, click on Display to open settings related to monitors, brightness, night light, and more.
3. Here, scroll down till you find Advanced display settings and click on it.
4. Now, click on Display adapter properties and a new settings window will pop up.
5. Click on the monitor tab and then lower the screen refresh rate from the option on the screen.
If your display supports multiple refresh rates, then you will be able to see these options in the screen refresh rate menu. By lowering the refresh rate, you will be able to significantly increase your laptop’s battery life.
11. Make Changes in Video Playback Settings
To fix battery drain issues in Windows 11, you can also make changes in the settings of video playback. Here’s the step-by-step method to change video playback settings on Windows 11.
1. Open the Settings app from the Start menu.
2. Now click on the Apps tab in the left pane and then on the Video Playback option in the right pane.
3. Now, click on the Battery options and choose the Optimize for battery option.
4. Also, checkmark the box that reads “Play video at a lower resolution when on battery”.
After applying the aforementioned settings, the videos will play at a lower resolution, which will certainly improve your device’s battery life.
12. Adjust Your Power Plan Settings
Apart from the aforementioned solutions, you can also make changes to the power plan settings to expand the battery life of your notebook.
1. Open Settings and click on Power & Battery settings in the right pane.
2. Under the Power mode menu, select the best power efficiency option.
The best power efficiency option will be consuming less energy, resulting in a much longer battery life than the balanced or best performance modes.
13. Update Windows to Latest Version
An outdated version of the Windows 11 operating system can also cause some battery drain-related issues on a computer. So, make sure you have the latest version of the OS installed on your device.
1. Click on the Start button and open your laptop’s settings.
2. In the left pane, click on the Update & Security settings.
3. Now click on the Windows update option and then Check for updates button.
4. Your computer will automatically look for the latest version of Windows 11 and install it on your device.
Once you have upgraded to the latest version of Windows 11, reboot your device and you should see some bump in the overall battery life.
Final Words
Above are the best solutions that you can apply to your system to increase the battery life. Just as described above, using your notebook with a lower screen brightness level will considerably enable you to have more usage when on a single charge. If after the end of all provided solutions and the battery usage is no better, then there is a set issue with the battery.
The battery will either be old and worn out or be damaged by some external poor qualities. In both instances, you will need to replace the battery to get the optimal usage. Get your laptop make and model number and then search for a battery replacement on the e-commerce websites like Amazon and BestBuy.
