How can I make my screen blank by a shortcut?

Question

I'd like a shortcut that makes the screen go to a black screen immediately, without turning any power off, or even putting it to sleep.

What ways can I do that?

How more efficient the solution is to set up, the better.

Answer 1

You can just make a shortcut to the blank screensaver and then set a keyboard shortcut via the properties window for the shortcut.

The screensaver is called scrnsave.scr, located in %SYSTEMROOT%\system32.

Answer 2

You can easily do this with NirCmd, these four options will give you a black screen each (with side effect):

• Turn off the monitor.

  nircmd.exe monitor off
  

• Start the default screen saver (set it to a blank one, so you can make the screen blank).

  nircmd.exe screensaver
  

• Put your computer in 'standby' mode.

  nircmd.exe standby
  

• Turn off your computer.

  nircmd.exe exitwin poweroff
  

Make sure that you have nircmd.exe in C:\Windows\System32 if you want to call it from anywhere.

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As Dennis Williamson pointed out in his comment, you can create a hotkey like this:

nircmd.exe cmdshortcutkey "C:\Windows\Temp" "MO" "Ctrl+Shift+M" monitor off

Or a shortcut on your desktop which you can click like this:

nircmd.exe cmdshortcut "~$folder.desktop$" "Turn Monitor off" monitor off

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With AutoHotkey, you can bind any of the above commands to a hotkey:

#s::Run nircmd.exe monitor off

The above hotkey WIN+S would for example turn the monitor off.

An alternative program, if you dislike scripting, could be PhaseExpress.

Answer 3

Set your screensaver to the one called "blank". Press Win-L.

Here are some examples of using AutoHotkey to turn off the monitor or start the screen saver without needing NirCmd.

Answer 4

I used NirCmd to create a task in Win7 task scheduler, that turns the monitor off when I lock the computer (Ctrl+L)

In the Actions, paste: nircmd.exe and in Arguments put monitor off.

Then use the drop-down in Triggers to choose "Workstation is locked". Works like a charm.

Answer 5

There is a built-in function on my laptop. Just hit the Fn+F6. This toggles the black screen on my laptop, anyway: no extra command programming required.

Answer 6

Another option using AutoHotkey:

SendMessage 0x112, 0xF170, 2,,Program Manager

You need to install AutoHotkey (1.1.x, not sure if it works in 2.x), create a text file with .ahk extension (e.g. turn_off_screen.ahk), paste this line there using any text editor, and you can run it by double click.

Answer 7

Fn+F2 does it quickly and simply for me (while NOT running PowerPoint or any other program, or hooked up to any other screen or device). Repeat the step to unblank.

Answer 8

If you want to blank just one display, without disabling or "sleeping" it you can use this VB6 program that simply loads a black background HTML file in full screen without any boarders:

http://jpelectron.com/download/viewit-rev3.zip

Copy all the files to: C:\Program Files (x86)\viewIT\ then run or make a shortcut to viewit.exe

There is also the option to make the entire screen white (like a flashlight app)

I created this because I needed a way to blank my tablet's screen (primary display) while I had a YouTube or other video playing full-screen elsewhere (secondary display)

If you don't like that this loads on the primary display only, I would suggest you open fillblack.htm in a browser, put that browser on the display you want, then press F11 to enable full-screen/kiosk mode - that will do it too.

Answer 9

Another useful tool for this purpose is Multiscreen Blank. You will still need to set up a system-wide shortcut with an additional tool, but the screen blanking settings are nicely adjustable.

Answer 10

The accepted answer by Candreasen on May 31 '13 at 3:56 was spot on.

Some additional information based on my implementation in Windows 7:
Create a shortcut with the following target:
C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr
This blanks both screens when another display is connected to the HDMI port on my laptop.
This invokes the 'blank' screensaver.
I think any .scr screensaver file in the Windows folders can be started this way.
Unlike the automatic starting of a screensaver after inactivity on this machine, this invocation of the screensaver does not request a password when it restarts. According to this, it seems to be normal for a screensaver invoked in this way not to be locked:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686421(v=vs.85).aspx#ss_keys
"Before a screensaver appears, Windows creates a new virtual desktop for it. The screensaver process is created on this second desktop, which is never locked."

Answer 11

I am surprised that this simple yet important function is not built in to Windows 10. I am currently using ScreenOff to accomplish this screen blanking effect. Not good.

Answer 12

to Avoid the sleeping mode save this script as a .vbs format and double click just once. Approximate 1 hour you screen will not go in sleeping mode. how its work: its keeps refreshing your PC for 1 hour . safe and secure . :D

set sh=createobject("wscript.shell")
for i=1 to 25
WScript.sleep 120000
sh.sendkeys"{F15}"
next
set sh=nothing

Step 1:
copy it and put this in your note pad
step 2:
while saving save it with .VBS ext. EX:   ABCDEF.vbs
Step 3:
after that just double click on it once. 

Answer 13

There is a regular standalone portable Don'tSleep utility from softwareok.com which allows to define which applications would be barred from forcing your PC or screen from sleeping.

I just need a blank screen so I can output a messsage, which would otherwise appears on regular desktop and not be quite legible, prompting the user to do something. I think "viewit" solution should work for me.