Use the command line to set power options in Windows 7 and up

A computer, fresh out of the box, has a default setting to put itself to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity. I prefer to keep computers alive so I can run maintenance scripts after hours without disturbing users. A handy command line tool is powercfg which can be used to set the power options. The easy command is “powercfg -change -standby-timeout-ac 00”. This tells the powercfg command to -change the -standby-timeout when on -ac power (DC would refer to a laptop running on battery) to 00 minutes.

-CHANGE, -X Modifies a setting value in the current power scheme.

              Usage: POWERCFG -X <SETTING> <VALUE>

              <SETTING>   Specifies one of the following options:
                          -monitor-timeout-ac <minutes>
                          -monitor-timeout-dc <minutes>
                          -disk-timeout-ac <minutes>
                          -disk-timeout-dc <minutes>
                          -standby-timeout-ac <minutes>
                          -standby-timeout-dc <minutes>
                          -hibernate-timeout-ac <minutes>
                          -hibernate-timeout-dc <minutes>

              Example:
                  POWERCFG -Change -monitor-timeout-ac 5

              This would set the monitor idle timeout value to 5 minutes
              when on AC power.

Dennis Bourn

For over two decades, Dennis Bourn and the team at Bourn Technology have been helping engineering firms, law practices and many other businesses across New Orleans and the surrounding areas get the most from the technology they value so much. To find out more information about what the right MSP can bring to the table, or to learn more about aligning your IT with your long-term goals as a business, please don’t delay – contact Bourn Technology today.