Power Plan - Select

How to Select a Power Plan Scheme in Windows 7 and Windows 8​


   Information
A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two.

This tutorial will help show you how to select either a Balanced, Power Saver, High Performance, or Custom power plan as active for your user account in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   Tip
You may also have a custom power plan available from your computer manufacturer (OEM) that may also appear by default on the battery meter on a mobile PC (laptop), or as one of the preferred power plans (step 7 below) on a desktop computer.





OPTION ONE

To Select Power Plan Scheme as Active in Power Options


1. Open the Control Panel (icons view) in Windows 7 or Windows 8, click/tap on the Power Options icon.

2. To see alll of your available power plans, you will need to click on the drop down arrow to the right of Show additional plans, and do step 3, 4, 5, or 6 below for the power plan you want. (See screenshots below)
Select1.jpg

Select2.jpg
3. For the Balanced Power Plan Scheme
NOTE: Offers full performance when you need it and saves power during periods of inactivity. This power plan balances energy conservation with performance.
A) Select (dot) Balanced (Recommended), and go to step 7 below. (See screenshots below step 2)
4. For the Power Saver Power Plan Scheme
NOTE: Saves power by reducing system performance. This plan can help mobile PC users get the most from a single battery charge. This power plan conserves energy.
A) Select (dot) Power saver, and go to step 7 below. (See screenshots below step 2)
5. For the High Performance Power Plan Scheme
NOTE: This power plan maximizes system performance and responsiveness. Mobile PC users may notice that their battery doesn't last as long when using this plan.
A) Select (dot) High Performance, and go to step 7 below. (See screenshots below step 2)
6. For a Custom Power Plan Scheme
NOTE: To be able to select a custom power plan, either the OEM will have one listed or you must have created a custom power plan.
A) Select (dot) an available custom power plan, and go to step 7 below. (See screenshots below step 2)
Create-4.jpg
7. Close the Power Options window. (See screenshots below step 2)

8. You can also change the Advanced Power Plan Settings in Windows 7 or Windows 8 for this selected power plan if you like.




OPTION TWO

To Select Power Plan Scheme as Active in Command Prompt


1. Open a command prompt in Vista/Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1.

2. In the command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter to see a list of existing power plan schemes.
powercfg /List


powercfg_List.png

   Note
The power scheme that has an asterisk * to the right of it is the current active power plan scheme.


3. In the command prompt, type the command below, press Enter to set a power scheme as active. (see screenshot below)
powercfg /S SCHEME_GUID


powercfg_set_active.jpg

   Note
Substitute SCHEME_GUID in the command with the actual GUID number of the power plan scheme you want from step 2 above.

For example, I would type this below to make the High performance power plan scheme the active power scheme.

powercfg /S 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c


4. You can now close the command prompt if you like.
That's it,
Shawn





Related Tutorials

 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
marwerno said:
I forgot another option for getting to the power plans:
If you use the master control panel, some call it "god mode" you have direct access to the energy options
(create a folder, type any name and than ad this <.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}>
(Only the stuff between the < and >)
Now you get a list of all setting in Windows.

What few people might know:
You can drag and drop any of the settings icons to your desktop or Quick launch area and Windows will create a shortcut for you to exactly that setting :-)

But I really miss the setting which used to be available even for Desktops, that you could simply ask Windows to display the energy icon in the status bar and you could select the power plan with only 1 click.... :-(
I hate it when they dumb down things (what they have done with so many things in Win 7)
Click to expand...


WIN + X key combo | in the Battery Status section, from drop down box , choose the desired plan.

WIN is the key with the Microsoft flag on top.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Toshiba Satellite S875D-S7239 laptop
OS
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
CPU
AMD A10-4600M
Motherboard
AMD Pumori (Socket FT1)
Memory
6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-12-28)
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Radeon HD 7660G
Sound Card
High Definition Audio Device
Monitor(s) Displays
Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz)
Screen Resolution
1600x900@60Hz
Hard Drives
SSD 119GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2 ATA Device
Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse
HP Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse Model FHA-3410
Internet Speed
What the local pub, local coffee shop offers.
Other Info
Optical Drive:MATSHITA BD-CMB UJ160B ATA Device


Also have an Asus ha1002xp netbook with Win 7 Ultimate installed.
marwerno said:
But I really miss the setting which used to be available even for Desktops, that you could simply ask Windows to display the energy icon in the status bar and you could select the power plan with only 1 click.... :-(
I hate it when they dumb down things (what they have done with so many things in Win 7)
Click to expand...

Hello Marwerno,

You might like this then. You can pin it to the taskbar, or add it to Quick Launch to be able to do so. :)

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/21990-power-plan-create-shortcut-change-power-plan.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self built custom
OS
64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
CPU
Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
Memory
64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz
Graphics Card(s)
ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
Screen Resolution
2560x1440
Hard Drives
1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus NAS
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Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
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Thermaltake Core P3
Cooling
Corsair Hydro H115i
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Logitech wireless K800
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Logitech MX Master 4
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2 Gb/s Download and 100 Mb/s Upload
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Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
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Google Chrome
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Logitech Z625 speaker system,
Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hello. Just a tip about this power plan. I have noticed a lot of laptops have overheating problems. So by selecting this power plan the temperature will get higher. Therefore I would suggest limiting the processor max to 95% when doing that.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Power-Plan

Thanks for Power-plans post.it really helpful,because my laptop's power plan are disappeared & i try to obtain them but i don't get them.but by this post i retrieve them.
Thanks a lot.
 

My Computer

OS
windows-7 64 bit
I hope this question is not out of line in this forum.

This batch file will get the active power plan; how do I incorporate it into a webpage/script?

Code: 
@echo off 
powercfg -query > list.txt 
set /p line=< list.txt   
for /F "tokens=2 delims=()" %%a in ("%line%") do set string=%%a 
echo %string% 
del list.txt 
pause
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell 17-1750 Laptop
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64
CPU
Pentium Duo 2.54
Memory
4GB
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
1 500GB
Mouse
Dell Optical
Internet Speed
768KB
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