How to Change Ubuntu 13.10 Laptop Behavior When Lid is Closed

 

This tutorial shows you how to change Ubuntu 13.10 behavior to make it shutdown, hibernate, suspend or do nothing when your laptop lid is closed.

Ubuntu Unity provides a built-in utility allows to change lid closed behavior, but it only allows to suspend and do nothing in my Ubuntu 13.10 machine:

If you want to hibernate or shutdown, or you’re on Ubuntu Server without GUI follow the below steps:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to edit the config file:

sudo gedit /etc/systemd/logind.conf

For server edition, replace gedit with vi (Press i to start and Esc to exit editing, : followed by wq to save file.)

2. Find the line #HandleLidSwitch=suspend, remove the # and change it to:

• HandleLidSwitch=poweroff to shutdown computer when lid is closed
• HandleLidSwitch=hibernate to hibernate computer when lid is closed
• HandleLidSwitch=ignore to do nothing

3. Save the file and restart the service or just restart your laptop to apply the changes.

sudo restart systemd-logind

That’s it. Enjoy!