· My Roon is running on a 24/7 Win11 NUC with local database, while all my music is on a Synology NAS. Until recently, the NAS used to go into sleep mode when I was not actively listening to music. Since roughly 2 weeks, this is no longer the case - it now runs 24/7 as well.
When I quit Roon execution on my NUC, the NAS goes into sleep mode again. I therefore assume this behavior is caused by Roon.
How can I get back to the situation that Roon does not keep my NAS from going into sleep mode?
From our development side, there have been no recent updates or changes to how Roon interacts with SMB network shares or pings storage devices. Since Roon’s baseline storage behavior hasn’t changed, we need to look at how the connection is currently being handled between your Windows 11 NUC and the NAS.
Could you please clarify how your music folder is mounted?
Directly in Roon: Are you using the direct network path (e.g., smb://[NAS_IP]/Music or \\[NAS_IP]\Music) directly within Roon’s Settings > Storage menu?
Mounted via Windows: Is the NAS mounted as a mapped network drive in Windows (like a Z: or Y: drive), and Roon is simply pointing to that Windows drive letter?
If it is mounted as a Windows network drive, background OS processes (like Windows Defender or search indexing) will frequently use the active Roon connection to constantly poll the drive, which prevents the Synology from ever entering its sleep state.
I changed the music folder mounting, and mounted it directly in Roon (plus disconnected the network drives in Windows). However, no difference: my NAS still does not change to sleep mode.
I changed it back - this seems not to be the root cause. Please note: the NAS goes to sleep when I quit Roon, so it seems to be linked to running Roon.
Thanks for the update! The most common reason Roon keeps a NAS awake is Background Audio Analysis. Roon analyzes your files to calculate volume leveling (Loudness) and waveform data. If you recently added a large batch of music, or if a Roon update triggered a re-analysis, it will keep the drive active until finished.
Action: Go to Settings > Library.
Check: Look at Background Audio Analysis Speed.
If it is currently running, you can set it to "Throttled" or "Off" to see if the NAS sleeps. Note that if you have thousands of tracks left to analyze, the NAS will stay awake until the task is complete.
Roon "watches" your folders for changes. If Windows or the NAS is reporting metadata changes (even minor ones), Roon will keep the connection active to sync.
Action: Go to Settings > Storage.
Check: Click the three dots (⋮) next to your NAS folder and select Edit.
Ensure "Rescan interval" is not set to an aggressively short timeframe. While "Automatic" is usually fine, you can try setting it to a specific long interval (e.g., 6 hours or 12 hours) to allow the NAS enough idle time to trigger its sleep timer.
I did not add any music during the last few months, and there is also no audio analysis ongoing right now. The HDDs in the NAS are also not continously make these rattle noises when it is transferring data / moving its head - it just does not go into sleep until I quit Roon.
When the music folder is mounted via Windows, I cannot adjust the rescan interval. When I mount it directly in Roon, it is set to 24 hours, while the NAS still does not go into sleep mode.
I had actually hoped that it is a bug related to adding the option to schedule background work. But as Vadim states, that is apparently not the case. As a software engineer, I know that complex software sometimes has a life of its own. I’m fine to close this case if you run out of ideas - nevertheless thanks for your support!
While the Roon software initiates the connection to monitor the library, the underlying operating system ultimately manages the SMB session states and “keep-alive” packets. The way Windows handles these continuous network connections dictates whether the NAS registers the session as truly “idle” enough to spin down its drives.
Since this behavior started about two weeks ago, the timeline aligns very closely with the typical Windows Update cycle. Occasionally, cumulative updates introduce subtle changes to how Windows manages SMB connections, network discovery, or background polling for active applications, which can inadvertently keep network-attached storage awake.
To help us isolate if an OS-level change is the underlying factor, could you take a look at your system’s recent update history?
Current Build: What is the exact Windows 11 version and OS build you are currently running?
Update History: Was a cumulative update installed right around the time this issue began?
Would you be open to temporarily rolling back the most recent Windows update to see if the NAS successfully returns to its normal sleep behavior?
This thread is now auto-closing due to lack of response, but you can reactivate the conversation by submitting a new tech support request here if you require additional troubleshooting or support. Thank you!