Keep Ubuntu Server running on a laptop with the lid closed?

Question

I decided to use my Eee PC 1001HA as a home server. I have it connected through Wi-Fi to the router, running Ubuntu Server 12.04. Everything works fine except this annoying problem:

when I close the lid, the ssh server stops working and, I guess, wlan0 too.

Tried the BIOS and nothing, no option about the lid. My wlan0 is a RaLink RT3090.

Tried ls -lrt /var/log between lid derivatives, but I can't understand those satanic logs. I can share them if needed.

pm-powersave.log seems to be updated between lid movements. So I guess I've to disable this "powersave" service. Can I do this? I don't mind if the server runs all day.

Remember that there is no UI, this is a netbook with a lid and its connected to the ac adapter.

edit: This is just a workaround but I am able to click the power-button and close the lid quickly. This way the server boots normally and connects to the wireless network automatically. (found here)

The answers at this location helped me

http://askubuntu.com/questions/360615/ubuntu-server-13-10-now-goes-to-sleep-when-closing-laptop-lid — Sepero, Jun 04 '14 at 15:34
See also How can I tell Ubuntu to do nothing when I close my laptop lid?. — imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev, Jul 20 '15 at 09:59

score 157 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 21 '21 at 03:46

157

To disable entering the sleep mode I had to edit the /etc/systemd/logind.conf file and modify the line:

#HandleLidSwitch=suspend

to

HandleLidSwitch=ignore

Additionally, ensure that the file also has this line:

LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

Then restart the OS via:

sudo service systemd-logind restart

edited Jun 21 '21 at 03:46

Ryan

401

answered Mar 09 '15 at 00:59

user386160

1,571

3

sudo sh -c 'echo "HandleLidSwitch=ignore" >> /etc/systemd/logind.conf' && reboot – FreeSoftwareServers Dec 22 '15 at 05:38
Worked for me on 14.04 x64 server (Lenovo ThinkPad T410) – FreeSoftwareServers Dec 22 '15 at 05:38
Worked for me on 15.10 x64 server (Asus G73JW) – VeenarM Dec 24 '15 at 12:11
Worked for me on Ubuntu Mate 14.04.3 x64 (LTS), running on a Asus K52F. Thanks! (and +1 ;) ) – SonicARG Jan 28 '16 at 21:00
This worked good for my 14.04 – Kirill Husiatyn Apr 21 '16 at 06:26
3

Worked for me on 16.06 (Lenovo Thinkpad P50) – Simon B Aug 09 '16 at 07:23
I done that like this. And after all i have to reboot. I don't try killl -HUP because i forgot :) and i don't have service systemd-logind restart command. /etc/systemd/logind.conf
HandleSuspendKey=ignore

HandleHibernateKey=ignore

HandleLidSwitch=ignore

HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore
– Pas_ Nov 14 '16 at 18:31
2

meybe systemctl restart systemd-logind ?? on Ubuntu 16.4 LTS – Pas_ Nov 14 '16 at 18:39
10

HandleLidSwitch=lock If you want the extra security – myol Dec 24 '16 at 23:00
4

What if I want the display to turn off? – FractalSpace Feb 02 '18 at 02:32
This worked for me in 18.04 – parsecpython Feb 21 '19 at 03:22
This worked for me in 20.04 – egemen Jan 02 '21 at 20:00
FYI sudo service systemd-logind restart kills the current session. I had to reboot – vozman Feb 27 '21 at 07:31
it worked for me on ubuntu server 22 – Ricardo Silva Mar 04 '23 at 14:30

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 12 '19 at 07:31

Turn off laptop screen when closed

This works for me on a new install of Ubuntu Server LTS 18.04.1.

The answer from @user386160 worked great to prevent my laptop from going to sleep. But I found out that my monitor was staying on even when the lid was closed (a.k.a. generating unnecessary heat).

Here's the additional steps I took to turn off the laptop monitor when the screen was closed:

sudo apt-get install acpi-support vbetool
sudo echo "event=button/lid.*" > /etc/acpi/events/lid-button
sudo echo "action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh" >> /etc/acpi/events/lid-button
sudo touch /etc/acpi/lid.sh
sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/lid.sh
sudo nano /etc/acpi/lid.sh

Then set the contents of the lid.sh file to the following:

#!/bin/bash

grep -q close /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
    sleep 0.2 && vbetool dpms off
fi

grep -q open /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
    vbetool dpms on
fi

Should be top answer, who wants the screen on with the lid closed? — MrR, Dec 18 '21 at 19:46

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 14 '15 at 10:55

11

just to confirm, 14.04 LTS Server user here on a Dell X100e.

sudo apt-get install acpi-support
sudo vi /etc/default/acpi-support # and then set SUSPEND_METHODS="none"
sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart

Instantly able to close lid, no issues.

Just posting to confirm the previous posters' solution as the only fix needed. No need (currently) to do anything else in addition to this.

edited Jul 14 '15 at 10:55

0fnt

103

answered Aug 08 '14 at 08:52

Stephan

119

3

This did not work for me on server 14.04 LTS. After applying these changes, when I close the lid, the disk drive runs for a second and then wifi goes out. – lonstar Dec 13 '14 at 16:04
1

This did nothing for me on my Asus G73JW, Ubuntu server 15 , HandleLidSwitch did – VeenarM Dec 24 '15 at 12:10

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered May 25 '12 at 01:00

6

Everything stops working because...the laptop goes to sleep! (suspend mode).

To stop, just disable the ACPI lid-button event.

Edit /etc/acpi/event/lidbtn and comment out the bottom two lines:

  # /etc/acpi/events/lidbtn
  # Called when the user closes or opens the lid
  event=button[ /]lid  # comment this out with a # at the beginning
  action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh # same here

Reboot, and that should be it.

answered May 25 '12 at 01:00

ish

139,926

8

Hi izx, I dont have that file. My "/etc/acpi/" has one file "powerbtn". And the "/etc/acpi/events" has another file with same name: "powerbtn" – WhyWhat May 25 '12 at 05:54

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 20 '21 at 20:36

5

Another approach,

for me on Ubuntu Server 20.10, changing logind.conf did not help (although I've also done that, haven't tested this solution without those changes in that file), and the

sudo systemctl mask sleep.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target

-approach caused systemd to consume 100% of my CPU, but from this manpage https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/cosmic/man5/systemd-sleep.conf.5.html I managed to get it to work (no reboot or anything) by disabling sleep in it's entirety; In /etc/systemd/sleep.conf add the following lines

AllowSuspend=no
AllowHibernation=no
AllowSuspendThenHibernate=no
AllowHybridSleep=no

Although that might not be an option if you want to be able to suspend it etc. in some other situation, but at least it worked for me.

answered Apr 20 '21 at 20:36

Periodic Sqare well

151

1

Thanks for this answer. This worked for me on a laptop running Ubuntu Server 22.04. I was glad to see the screen still turns off as I close the lid, so I didn't have to worry about those extra steps in the other answer above. – salsbury Oct 25 '22 at 17:49
2
I couldn't edit my above comment, but I wanted to mention a similar option I saw in described in /etc/systemd/sleep.conf. Instead of modifying the /etc/systemd/sleep.conf directly, you can add a file to /etc/systemd/sleep.conf.d/ (I had to create the dir first). Files in there take precedence over /etc/systemd/sleep.conf. So I created /etc/systemd/sleep.conf.d/00-sleep.conf and put exactly these lines in it.
```
AllowSuspend=no
AllowHibernation=no
AllowSuspendThenHibernate=no
AllowHybridSleep=no```
```
– salsbury Oct 29 '22 at 05:35
For me on server 20.04 w/ Dell laptop the screen stays on when closed unfortunately – George Rappel Aug 27 '23 at 21:54

score 5 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

5

I am using 14.04 LTS with ASUS EEE.

The solution by Stephan above didn't work for me. However, this answer worked.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Oct 10 '14 at 07:36

Max

151

I.e., editing /etc/systemd/logind.conf. This also worked for me on a non-Ubuntu system, with a special needed for the behavior of the DE started by the DM. – imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev Jul 20 '15 at 09:56

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 12 '19 at 14:46

4

Editing the /etc/systemd/logind.conf helped, but not with only adding

HandleLidSwitch=ignore

I also had to add the lines:

HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore

and

LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

answered Oct 12 '19 at 14:46

jarno

41

score 3 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 27 '18 at 12:41

3

I think setting the SUSPEND_METHODS="none" option in /etc/default/acpi-support, does the same thing

edited Feb 27 '18 at 12:41

Peter Souter

103

answered Jan 11 '14 at 05:13

OmPS

739

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 14 '13 at 03:00

This worked for me - my Ubuntu Server install didn't have /etc/acpi/event/lidbtn either, but I installed the acpi-support package and then it showed up.

The package installs a whole bunch of other X11 related packages but doesn't enable graphical mode, don't worry.

Once I commented the last two lines as above then my laptop stayed running with the lid closed.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 30 '22 at 18:17

0

Approach that worked for me running Ubuntu Server 22.04 on a MacBook Pro 7,1; edit the login.conf file and utilize setterm cli command. This also helped make sure my screen and logo backlight turned off.

Edit file: /etc/systemd/logind.conf Adjust these two parameters:

HandleLidSwitch=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore

Also, in the terminal, type: setterm --blank 1 --powerdown 2

answered Aug 30 '22 at 18:17

Rovo

1

got this error setterm: terminal xterm-256color does not support --blank – Alex Deft Sep 11 '22 at 04:23

Keep Ubuntu Server running on a laptop with the lid closed?

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