This post tells you how to remap a the “pause” key to “sleep” if your keyboard does not have a “sleep” key. This is really useful because there is no easy keyboard shortcut in Windows 11 to send your computer to sleep.

1. Install PSTools
   • http://superuser.com/questions/42124/how-can-i-put-the-computer-to-sleep-from-command-prompt-run-menu
2. Install Autohotkeys
3. create a this file

#sleep-on-pause.ahk
#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0
Pause:: 
{
   Run "C:{path to to psshutdown here}\psshutdown.exe -d -t 0"
}

4. Put it in your startup folder
5. Windows + R > shell:startup

When you reboot the “Pause” key will now run PSTools and send your laptop to sleep.

Testing tip – give things time to happen

When testing allow at least 60s after logging in before pressing the Paus” button. This is because experiment shows that start-up scripts run after all the other Windows login activities. After you press the Pause button the computer screen will go black after a couple of seconds but it is not asleep yet. Wait at least 60s before trying to wake your computer.