Windows 7 - Power Plan - Create Shortcut to Change Power Plan

**Brink**

How to Create a Shortcut to Change Power Plans in Windows 7

Information

This will show you how to create or download shortcuts that will allow you to change or switch to the High Performance, Balanced, Power Saver, or a custom power plan instantly without having to go through Power Options in the Control Panel.

Note

You can also Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu these shortcuts, or move them where you like for easy use. In addition, you could assign a keyboard shortcut to these shortcuts.

Tip

You can also add a shortcut key to be used to run these shortcuts when you like.

EXAMPLE: Power Plans
NOTE: These shortcuts will allow you to toggle between your power plans here automatically.

OPTION ONE

To Download Shortcuts to Change Default Power Plan

NOTE: If you would like to have a shorcut to change to a custom power plan, then you will need to manually create one for it in OPTION TWO below.

1. Shortcut to Change to the High Performance Power Plan
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
High_Performance_Power_Plan.zip

2. Shortcut to Change to the Balanced Power Plan
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Balanced_Power_Plan.zip

3. Shortcut to Change to the Power Saver Power Plan
A) Click on the download button below to download the file below.
Power_Saver_Power_Plan.zip

4. Click on Save, and save the .zip file to the desktop.

5. Open the .zip file and extract the power plan shortcut to the desktop.

6. Right click on the power plan shortcut, and click on Properties, General tab, and on the Unblock button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you do not have a Unblock button under the General tab, then the shortcut is already unblocked and you can continue on to step 7.

7. Move the shortcut(s) to where you like for easy use.

8. When done, you can delete the downloaded .zip file on the desktop if you like, or save it to use again.

OPTION TWO

To Manually Create the Shortcuts to Change Default Power Plan

1. Open a command prompt, then type powercfg -list at the prompt and press enter. (See screenshots below)

2. Make note of the GUID number for the power plan (name at far right) that you want to create a shortcut for. (See screenshots above)
NOTE: You will need to enter this GUID number in step 4 below. You can Copy to Clipboard the GUID number from within the command prompt for step 4 to make this easier for a custom power plan.

3. Right click on a empty area on desktop, and click on New and Shortcut.

4. Type powercfg.exe /setactive GUID number into the location area, and click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)

NOTE: Substitute GUID number in the command with the actual GUID number displayed from step 2 above for a custom power plan. You can copy the complete command in bold below for the default power plans to make this easy.
High Performance
Code:
powercfg.exe /setactive 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c
Balanced
Code:
powercfg.exe /setactive 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e
Power Saver
Code:
powercfg.exe /setactive a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a
5. Type the power plan name (ex: High Performance), and click on the Finish button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You can name this shortcut anything you would like though.

6. Right click on the new power plan shortcut on the Desktop and click on Properties.

7. Click on the Shortcut tab, and click on the Change Icon button. (See screenshot below)

8. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)

9. In the line under "Look for icons in this file", type in the location below and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
%SystemRoot%\System32\powercpl.dll

10. Select the Power Options icon highlighted in blue above and click on OK. (See screenshot above)

11. Click on Apply, then to the right of Run, click on the drop down menu and select Minimized and click on OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This is so the command window will not be seen flashing quickly open and closed when you use the power plan shortcut to change power plans. If you would like to see the command prompt flash to help see that the shortcut was used, then you can leave this set to Normal window.

12. Move the shortcut(s) to where you like for easy use.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

**Night Hawk** · 08-23-2009

Another good one threre! Shawn That's far more direct then simply creating a shortcut to the power options by itself!

**Brink** · 08-23-2009

Hello Night Hawk,

Yeah, I was noticing a few posts out there for people wanting to be able to easily toggle between their power plans.

**Night Hawk** · 08-23-2009

That will be a help here since each system restart seems to reset the settings for the plan selected even when that's a custom plan. Having the display set to never it ends up being reset to 20 minutes even for a quick restart.

Note the only place this is seen is on the 64bit RC not the 32bit. Each time I startup for the first time or reboot the system these will be a large help for this rather then going through the settings over and over!

I certainly have room for them on the second taskbar here where they will come in handy!

**dw96** · 09-10-2009

That's awesome! I have 2 power plans which I switch very often, and this is definitely a solution! I'd rep ya, but it says I gotta spread around some rep before giving it to you! LOL!

**WinSmith** · 09-10-2009

Yeah, cool. Athough there exists an alternative solution. Yesterday I found a small program which shows all powerplans in list and also changes the tray icon color like R-G-B on changing to power saver - balanced - high performance. I got it at http://www.techspot.com/downloads/48...windows-7.html

But what I like most of all: this Power Plan Assistant puts my laptop to high performance on plugging in and lets me to standby the monitor with a mouse click. Overall neat, although I'd like it as well to put my lappie back to balanced on plugging out.

**Brink** · 09-10-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by WinSmith

Yeah, cool. Athough there exists an alternative solution. Yesterday I found a small program which shows all powerplans in list and also changes the tray icon color like R-G-B on changing to power saver - balanced - high performance. I got it at Power Plan Assistant for Windows 7 - TechSpot Downloads

But what I like most of all: this Power Plan Assistant puts my laptop to high performance on plugging in and lets me to standby the monitor with a mouse click. Overall neat, although I'd like it as well to put my lappie back to balanced on plugging out.

Hello WinSmith,

It's ok, but it will not have any custom power plans available to select from in that program.

**dw96** · 09-10-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by Brink

...but it will not have any custom power plans available to select...

Exactly the benefits of your solution!
I have a power plan that I use when I leave my computer for working at night. It makes the computer go to sleep only 3 minutes after it has finished it's work. Machines need a rest too, you know. So I configured it like this:

Power Plan - Create Shortcut to Change Power Plan-my-power-plans.png

**bbalmer** · 09-10-2009

I wrote an application that works with Windows 7 that lets you schedule when particular power plans should be used. I have a fairly regular schedule it automatically sets my computer so it can fall asleep during evening hours, but will always remain awake during the day.

If interested check it out at http://www.setpowersoftware.com/Free.aspx

Even better it doesn't consume any system resources except for when the plans are actually being switched.

**Night Hawk** · 09-10-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by bbalmer

I wrote an application that works with Windows 7 that lets you schedule when particular power plans should be used. I have a fairly regular schedule it automatically sets my computer so it can fall asleep during evening hours, but will always remain awake during the day.

If interested check it out at SetPower - Free Edition

Even better it doesn't consume any system resources except for when the plans are actually being switched.

Welcome to the sevenforums! bbalmer I'll be giving this one a good lookover while still running the 7 RCs for the time being until 7 is out.

Upon each first startup of the day or when simply rebooting the system the settings for never turn off the display are always reset to the default 20 minutes for some unknown reason on the 64bit RC. We'll have to see if this is a solution for that one!

Windows 7 - Power Plan - Create Shortcut to Change Power Plan

Power Plan - Create Shortcut to Change Power Plan

Power Plan - Create Shortcut to Change Power Plan problems?