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How to Change Lid Close Behavior in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: May 14, 2020

This simple tutorial shows how to change the action (e.g., power off, hibernate, do nothing, or lock) when laptop lid is closed in Ubuntu 20.04, while it suspends Ubuntu by default.

Dconf editor offers options to change the action to take when the laptop lid is closed on AC or power, but it doesn’t work!

So far as I know, you can edit the logind.conf file to change the action. And it should work on all Ubuntu desktop, server, and flavors.

1.) Open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T on Gnome) from your system application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo gedit /etc/systemd/logind.conf

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter. For Ubuntu server without UI, use nano text editor instead.

2.) When the file opens, find out the line #HandleLidSwitch=suspend and change it to one of following :

  • HandleLidSwitch=lock – lock when lid closed.
  • HandleLidSwitch=ignore – do nothing.
  • HandleLidSwitch=poweroff – shutdown.
  • HandleLidSwitch=hibernate – hibernate Ubuntu.

For automatic hibernate, you have to test if it works properly via command:

sudo systemctl hibernate

3.) Finally apply changes by running command:
(Save your works before running the command, it may restart your session)

systemctl restart systemd-logind.service

Note you have to do previous steps every time you want to change the action. And ‘Suspend when laptop lid is closed‘ option in Gnome Tweaks will no longer work before you comment (add # at the beginning) the line in /etc/systemd/logind.conf.

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28 responses to How to Change Lid Close Behavior in Ubuntu 20.04

  1. karlo May 21, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    thank you

    Can you write about the save battery in ubuntu 20.04?

  2. David June 10, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    Thank you so much for this! I tried two other guides that didn’t work.

  3. mik July 3, 2020 at 3:57 am

    useful, thanks

  4. Ian July 13, 2020 at 11:40 am

    Unfortunately that didn’t work for me.

  5. Connor MacLeod July 31, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    Fantastic! Thank you so very much for this. It worked great!

  6. Diego August 16, 2020 at 8:56 am

    Thanks for your help!

  7. Jeromy September 11, 2020 at 4:08 pm

    Life saver! Thanks!!!

  8. Ashutosh October 18, 2020 at 10:03 am

    This doesn’t work for me.
    On running this command, `systemctl restart systemd-logind.service` ,
    it says failed to restart session.

  9. Isaac Richardson November 2, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    This does not work at all

  10. Andrey November 21, 2020 at 5:23 pm

    Thanks, works for my on Thinkpad T480 on Ubuntu 20.10. It’s broke after update from 20.04.
    systemctl restart systemd-logind.service just made logout and couple of glitches after I logged in, I think it’s faster and simplier just to reboot your laptop.

  11. svo December 30, 2020 at 8:37 am

    Is it possible only add not to go in airplain mode???

  12. erick January 5, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    After doing this I’m not able to charge the laptop using the docking station (WDTB19). Any clue how to reverse it?

  13. Jordan January 27, 2021 at 6:30 pm

    This worked, but now I am trying to change it back and I am unable to. Any idea why? Thought I could just input the original value. Tried it with the hash and without. No dice.

  14. N.M. November 6, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    Thank You

  15. Sergio December 14, 2021 at 11:35 am

    Thank you so much!!! After months of looking tutorials and changing system parameters successlessly, this post solved my problem in just two steps. (the problem was ubuntu blocking airplane mode on lid close btw)

  16. NewUser1 January 7, 2022 at 3:35 am

    Closing the lid while running battery automatically sleeps the laptop, once the AC power is plugged in you can connect external monitor and close the lid without any issues. At least that is my experience on – Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS fresh install.

  17. Larry Duggan February 1, 2022 at 11:12 am

    This worked fine for me on latest Ubuntu 20,
    Thanks, Larry

  18. Dan March 28, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    this worked for me
    thanks ;)

  19. Esfaq Howlader August 17, 2022 at 2:05 am

    Thanks very much, useful tips

  20. rafe September 25, 2022 at 6:43 pm

    worked thank you so much

  21. Florin October 26, 2022 at 1:52 pm

    Do you have any idea how to only turn the screen off (so leave the laptop running) when the lid is closed?

  22. morhook November 11, 2022 at 9:22 pm

    I also had to modify Upower config, on file /etc/UPower/UPower.conf as follows (yes, this step sounds weird):

    IgnoreLid=true

    ref: https://askubuntu.com/a/1440278/170833

  23. C January 17, 2023 at 5:21 am

    Changed to poweroff and it worked as hoped after restarting.