A workaround to prevent auto-sleep after scheduled wake

Jan 02, '07 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

When the computer wakes up from sleep mode to the authentication screen (i.e. when someone accidentally moves the mouse), it goes back to sleep after 30 seconds if no one authenticates. This is good design. However, if the computer is set to a scheduled wakeup -- for instance, you want the computer to wake up first thing in the morning (long before you get there) to resume background processes -- it will still go to sleep after 30 seconds.

Solution? Well, there's not a great one yet, but a only workaround is to create a dummy account with no rights and set to wake up to a logged-in desktop. Then switch users to this account before sleeping. That way, the scheduled wake will be into this benign account, and your account will still be running in the background. Waking into an open account doesn't cause the machine to go back to sleep.

The obvious solution will have to come from Apple: If it's a scheduled wake to an authentication screen, don't go back to sleep. Maybe in Leopard -- fingers crossed.

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