How do I configure laptop lid closing event to turn off screen but not put computer to sleep?

I just upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS and figured out that there is no option in settings to change the lid closing behavior.

I tried the command line method from the answer here:

HandleLidSwitch=ignore 

worked successfully. But, this thing doesn't turn off the screen like it happens in Windows.

I want to keep the System running, but turn the screen off when the lid is closed.

1 Answer

HandleLidSwitch=ignore does just that: it ignores lid behavior. So the screen will not turn off if you use this method.

The following answer is adapted from this source

You will need to write a script:

In a terminal, create the file /etc/acpi/lid.sh, make it executable, and instruct your system to reference this file for the behavior of lid "events":

sudo touch /etc/acpi/lid.sh sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/lid.sh sudo echo 'event=button/lid.*' | tee --append /etc/acpi/events/lm_lid sudo echo 'action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh' | tee --append /etc/acpi/events/lm_lid 

then, open the script for editing:

sudo nano /etc/acpi/lid.sh 

The contents of this file should be: (replace your_username with your username)

#!/bin/bash USER=your_username grep -q close /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state if [ $? = 0 ]; then su -c "sleep 1 && xset -display :0.0 dpms force off" - $USER fi grep -q open /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state if [ $? = 0 ]; then su -c "xset -display :0 dpms force on &> /tmp/screen.lid" - $USER fi 

CTRL + O to save and CTRL + X to exit.

Reboot your system.

This may not work with multiple users.