Closed-Display Mode is a feature found on most Mac laptops. This feature allows you to close your Mac laptop's display/lid and keep your Mac awake instead of it falling asleep. Apple has a set of requirements you must typically meet before you can use your Mac in Closed-Display Mode, but Amphetamine can help you overcome these requirements.
Note: If you are having trouble getting Closed-Display Mode working correctly, see the Troubleshooting section at the end of this article.
With Amphetamine, your Mac will not need to have a display, keyboard, mouse/trackpad, or power adapter connection to make use of Closed-Display Mode. Amphetamine achieves this by using a publicly-accessible API to disable Apple's requirements and enable Closed-Display Mode under any circumstance.
To enable Closed-Display Mode using Amphetamine, you must do one of the following:
1) Enable Closed-Display Mode for all non-Trigger Sessions
Visit Amphetamines Preferences, go to the Sessions tab, and then select the Non-Trigger Sessions section. Uncheck the box labeled "Allow system sleep when display is closed."
Making this change will cause all non-Trigger sessions to start with this feature enabled. If you start a session and then decide you do not want that session to have Closed-Display Mode enabled, see option 2 below.
2) Enable Closed-Display Mode As Needed
When an Amphetamine session starts, you can control and modify the session's properties from Amphetamine's menu. Click Amphetamine's image in the menu bar to open Amphetamine's menu.
If a session is active, you will see the Current Session Details section at the top of the menu. If you do not see a Current Session Details section, you can enable it by visiting Preferences → Appearance → Menu Extras → Show Current Session Details.
In the Current Session Details section of Amphetamine's menu, uncheck the box labeled "Allow system sleep when display is closed." Making this change will cause the current session, and only the current session, to have Closed-Display Mode enabled. When the session ends, or you start another non-Trigger session, Closed-Display Mode will not be enabled.
3) Enable Closed-Display Mode For Trigger Sessions
Each Trigger you set up in Amphetamine has its own set of properties/options. Learn more about setting up Triggers by clicking here.
Navigate to the Triggers tab in Amphetamine's Preferences. Create a new Trigger by clicking the + button, or edit an existing one by double-clicking on the Trigger's name in the list. On the configuration window for your Trigger, uncheck the box labeled "Allow system sleep when display is closed." Finish configuring your Trigger, and then save your Trigger.
When the criteria is met and your Trigger activates a session, Closed-Display Mode will be enabled for that session. Other Trigger sessions and non-Trigger sessions will not have Closed-Display Mode activated unless they as well are configured to do so.
To enable or disable Closed-Display Mode for a Trigger on-the-fly, use the Current Session Details section of Amphetamine's menu as described in option 2, shown above.
Troubleshooting Closed-Display Mode
If you have enabled Closed-Display Mode in Amphetamine using one of the three options above, but are finding that your Mac still goes to sleep when closing the display/lid, try the following troubleshooting steps:
1) Reboot your Mac
Sometimes, macOS fails to properly respond to Amphetamine's API call that would normally enable or disable the Closed-Display Mode requirements override. Rebooting your Mac will often fix the issue.
2) Uninstall/Disable Other Keep-Awake Utilities
If you have installed other keep-awake utilities such as AntiSleep, which also has the ability to enable Closed-Display Mode, uninstall those other apps, or at a minimum, make sure they do not launch when your Mac reboots. After uninstalling or disabling the other keep-awake apps from launching automatically at login, reboot your Mac.
3) Reset your Mac's SMC
Resetting the system management controller (SMC) can resolve certain issues related to power, battery, and other features. Follow the steps outlines in the following Apple support knowledge article to reset your Mac's SMC:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
You can additional try resetting your Mac's PRAM/NVRAM:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
4) Try Another User Account
Some issues only exist within a specific user account. These issues can be hard to troubleshoot as the issue lies somewhere within your user account's configuration/settings. You can confirm the issue is specific to your user account by creating a "test" user account, logging into the test account, and trying to replicate the issue.
Follow the tests in the following Apple support knowledge article to create a new user account:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443
5) Contact Support
If you have tried all of the troubleshooting steps listed above, please submit a support request.
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