Windows keeps receiving notifications while your PC is locked, as long as it is awake. Depending on your settings they appear on the lock screen, with or without their text, and they wait in Notification Center: press Windows+N after you unlock. Sleep is different. A sleeping PC pauses desktop programs, so most of your notifications arrive only after it wakes.
What the lock screen shows
Two switches in Settings > System > Notifications decide whether notifications appear on the lock screen at all: Show notifications on the lock screen, and Show reminders and incoming VoIP calls on the lock screen. Both are listed in Microsoft's Windows settings catalog.
A third setting works per app. Select an app in the list Notifications from apps and other senders and turn on Hide content when notifications are on lock screen. Microsoft describes it as a way to keep sensitive notifications from showing on the lock screen. If a notification shows the word Private instead of its text, the guide to notifications that say Private explains which setting caused it.
Hiding content changes what the lock screen displays. It does not change the notification itself, so you can read the full text after you unlock.
Where to find them after you unlock
Press Windows+N or select the clock on the taskbar. Whether a notification waits there is decided per app by Show notifications in notification center, on the same settings page. If that is off for an app, its notifications are shown and then not kept.
Do not disturb also changes what you saw while away. With it on, Windows shows banners only for alarms, reminders and apps you chose; everything else goes straight to Notification Center. It can switch on by itself, for example during hours you set under Turn on do not disturb automatically.
The list you find can still be shorter than the time you were away. The guide to what you missed during Do not disturb explains why and which settings to change.
Locked is not asleep
Locking hides your desktop; the PC keeps running. When the screen turns off on a timer, Microsoft says the system continues to run and applications keep operating normally. Sleep is the state that stops them.
| State | Do notifications arrive? | What you find later |
|---|---|---|
| Locked, awake (screen on or off) | Yes | Lock screen alerts if enabled; entries in Notification Center |
| Asleep, traditional sleep | No. All apps stop running | Only what apps deliver after it wakes |
| Asleep, Modern Standby | Desktop programs are paused. Microsoft Store apps may still run background tasks, and a connected PC can receive events such as calls in a Store app | Mostly what apps deliver after it wakes |
Microsoft's comparison of Modern Standby and traditional sleep describes both. Browsers are desktop programs, so a website cannot notify you while the PC sleeps. If you do not know which kind of sleep your PC uses, assume nothing arrives. When the PC wakes, apps reconnect; whether they then show what you missed depends on the app.
By default, Windows puts an idle PC to sleep within minutes. Microsoft's current defaults in Windows 11 power settings range from 3 minutes on battery to 15 minutes plugged in, depending on the device. To change it, open Settings > System > Power & battery > Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts and set Make my device sleep after. A PC that stays awake uses more power, so on a laptop consider changing only the plugged-in value.
Recording notifications while the PC is locked
Notification Logger saves a notification when Windows adds it to Notification Center, in the background, without its window being open. A locked screen needs nothing extra. It does need permission to run in the background.
To check it, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, select More next to Notification Logger, then Advanced options, and look under Let this app run in background. Microsoft's background apps guide describes the three choices: Always lets the app run at any time, Power optimized lets Windows decide to save power, and Never stops it running in the background.
If Windows held it back, open Notification Logger or select Refresh. It reads what Notification Center still holds and saves anything new with the time it originally arrived. A notification cleared from Notification Center before then is not saved.
During sleep, little or nothing arrives, so there is little to record. On a Modern Standby laptop running on battery, Microsoft says background tasks may be paused unless the app is set to Always.
The log keeps the text of notifications whose content the lock screen hid, so keep it as private as the notifications themselves.
To test your setup, lock the PC while it is plugged in, have someone send you a message, then unlock after a minute and compare Notification Center with the log.
Frequently asked questions
Do I get notifications while my PC is locked?
Why did nothing arrive while I was away?
Why does the lock screen hide what a notification says?
Does Notification Logger record notifications while the PC is locked?
Method note: Windows settings and power states were checked against Microsoft documentation. Notification Logger details were checked against the app's implementation.
Notification Logger keeps what arrived while you were away, with the time each notification came in.
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