Overview
USB Selective Suspend lets Windows put idle USB ports into a low-power state to save energy. It is useful on laptops, but it can also cause devices to disconnect, fail to wake, or behave unreliably. This guide shows five ways to disable USB Selective Suspend when it is causing problems.
Disabling USB Selective Suspend can fix devices that disconnect or fail to wake.
Key Takeaways
- USB Selective Suspend saves power by suspending idle USB ports.
- Disabling it can fix random disconnects, audio dropouts, and unresponsive USB devices.
- You can disable it globally via Power Options, or per-device in Device Manager.
- On laptops, disabling it slightly increases battery use.
What Is USB Selective Suspend?
It is a power-saving feature that suspends individual USB ports when their devices are idle, without affecting other ports. While efficient, some devices do not resume cleanly from this state, leading to connectivity issues.
Method 1 — Power Options (Recommended)
1. Press Windows key + R, type powercfg.cpl, and press Enter.
2. Click Change plan settings next to your active plan, then Change advanced power settings.
3. Expand USB settings > USB selective suspend setting.
4. Set it to Disabled (set both On battery and Plugged in), then click Apply and OK.
Method 2 — Windows Settings
1. Open Settings > System > Power & battery (or Power).
2. Open the related power-mode/plan options.
3. Where available, adjust the USB power settings to keep USB devices powered.
4. Apply the change and test your device.
Method 3 — Per-Device in Device Manager
1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3. Double-click a USB Root Hub, open the Power Management tab.
4. Untick "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power", then click OK. Repeat for each USB Root Hub.
Method 4 — Command Prompt
1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Run: powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226 0
3. Run the same with /SETDCVALUEINDEX for battery power.
4. Apply it: powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT
Method 5 — PowerShell
1. Open PowerShell as administrator.
2. Run the same powercfg commands as above (powercfg works in PowerShell too).
3. Confirm with powercfg /QUERY SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_USB.
Tip: On a desktop PC, disabling USB Selective Suspend has no real downside and often cures flaky USB devices.
Troubleshooting
Problem: The USB selective suspend setting is missing from Power Options.
Solution: Some hidden settings need to be revealed. Use the Command Prompt method, which works even when the option is not shown.
Problem: Device still disconnects after disabling.
Solution: Also untick the power-management option on each USB Root Hub in Device Manager (Method 3), and update the device’s driver.
Problem: Battery drains faster on a laptop.
Solution: That is expected — re-enable USB selective suspend when you no longer need the device fix.
Problem: The change does not persist.
Solution: Apply it for both On battery and Plugged in, and run powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT to activate the modified plan.
Conclusion
If a USB device keeps dropping or failing to wake, disabling USB Selective Suspend is a reliable fix. Use Power Options for a global change, or Device Manager to target a specific hub — and re-enable it on laptops when battery life matters more.
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