Power Plan - Restore Default Settings

How to Restore Default Power Plan Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to reset and restore all of the default Power Plans back with their default settings, or how to restore a single Power Plan back to default settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

EXAMPLE: Default Power Plans


EXAMPLE: Missing Power Plans
NOTE: This is just an example of the power plans missing.

OPTION ONE

To Reset and Restore All Power Plans to Default

NOTE: This can be handy if you have a missing default power plan and would like to restore it, or would like to reset all default power plans back to their default settings. 1. Open a command prompt in Windows 7 or Windows 8.

2. In the command prompt, type powercfg -restoredefaultschemes and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
3. Close the command prompt.

OPTION TWO

To Restore a Single Power Plan back to Default

NOTE: This will restore a single power plan that you select back to it's default settings. 1. Open the Control Panel (icons view) in Windows 7 or Windows 8, click/tap on the Power Options icon, and go to step 3 below.


2. Click/tap on the Change plan settings link to the right of the power plan that you want to restore the default settings for. (See screenshot below)
3. Do step 4 or 5 below for what you would like to do.

4. Click/tap on the Restore default settings for this plan link, and go to step 6 below.. (See screenshot below)
5. Click/tap on the Change advanced power settings link, click/tap on the Restore plan defaults button, and go to step 6 below.. (See screenshot below)
6. Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you did step 5 instead of step 4, then click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below step 5A)
7. Close the Edit Plan Settings window. (See screenshot below step 4)
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Select a Power Plan in Windows 7
• How to Change the Power Plan Settings in Windows 7
• How to Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Create or Delete a Custom Power Plan in Windows 7
• How to Run a Windows 7 Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report
• How to Enable or Disable Require Password on Wakeup in Windows 7
• How to Create a Shortcut to Change Power Plans in Windows 7
• How to Change the Return to Sleep Timeout for a Unattended Wake Up in Windows 7
• How to Create a Power Options Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Create a "Advanced Power Options" Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Create a Power Troubleshoot Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Export and Import Power Plans in Windows 7
• How to Rename a Power Plan Name in Windows 7
• How to Specify a Default Power Plan for All Users in Vista and Windows 7

 

[afrozenminute]

Thanks this would be a great help.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Afrozenminute.

 

[aybe]

Hello and thank you, using this I've just fixed a very annoying problem on my PC :
Re: Lenovo Power Manager in Windows 8 - Page 4 - Lenovo Community

BIG THANKS

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Aybe, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm glad it was able to help.

 

[aybe]

Thank you !

 

[HoneycombAG]

Power settings really bricked - Just Repair-Installed

I ALREADY DID "powercfg -restoredefaultschemes" about 10 dozen times in Elevated Command prompt, it just says, "You do not have the permissions required to perform this action."

And I just repair-installed this stupid OS! What else is there to break next?

 

[Brink]

Hey AG,

Odd, does using Option Two to manually reset your power plan work for you?

 

[HoneycombAG]

It didn't work either. In fact the problem started when I tried to create a custom power plan for my tower.

 

[Brink]

If you like, doing a system restore using a restore point dated before this should be able to sort it for you.

 

[HoneycombAG]

I did that once, from the Recovery Console, up to 4 times from 4 different checkpoints, but it keeps getting me a failed (0x8000FFFF) message each time, but then I go back INTO Windows, then it says "System restore has completed successfully". I'm like WHAT?


Something is still broken with Windows. Maybe I didn't install a driver correctly?

 

[Brink]

For the 0x8000FFF error with System Restore, you might see if this may be able to help.

"E_UNEXPECTED 0x8000ffff" error when you try to restore a system by using System Recovery Options in Windows 7

 

[HoneycombAG]

Right, I tried to reinstall my motherboard drivers, then AMD Catalyst 13.9, then I disabled Avast Antivirus.

Tried "powercfg -restoredefaultschemes" again -- Now it says, "An unexpected error condition has occurred. Unable to perform operation. You may not have permission to perform this operation."

Issuing "powercfg -L" shows:

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e   *

 

[Brink]

As a test, log in to your built-in Administrator account to see if you are able to run the command in it.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html

 

[HoneycombAG]

Now it's doing the same thing on my Windows 8.1 laptop, and I think I've got the gist of what's behind all of this.

Stupid avast hardened mode.


There is no command-line to reset all the default schemes FOR powercfg, and I had already made a custom scheme prior to upgrading to avast 2014. However, my laptop's display stayed bright until it was time for it to switch off, meaning it wouldn't dim down after e.g. 5 minutes, like it was set for. In fact, recently I had posted a short note on Facebook about it:

I can't change my power management settings! What's the big idea?

And now it looks like I can't find the Dim display after setting. Imma have to uninstall the stupid AV.

 

[Brink]

That new feature in the new Avast sure has restricted/broken a lot of things.

 

[HoneycombAG]

I must be at the end of my rope. Had to reset my Dell laptop to factory defaults, because running sfc /scannow couldn't fix all of the damage that avast did. For some reason, however, installing Windows 8.1 causes me to lose the Dim display after controls, which is very discouraging, since the screen brightness impacts energy usage on battery power.

It's for that same reason that I have created a new account on Eight Forums.

 

[Brink]

Since it's an OEM PC, you might see if there may be a power management program that came preinstalled with it that may be overriding what you are setting in Windows.

 

[HoneycombAG]

I couldn't fix it. Sorry man. icnic:

There is a "Dell Extended Battery Life" option that puts my laptop to Power Saver when I unplug it. Unfortunately, that can't be removed from Programs and Features.

Looks like I'll have to leave avast 2014 off the computers for a while. Is it possible to install an old version or will it simply cause problems?

 

[Brink]

Not sure, but it appears that Avast 2014 is breaking quite a bit in Windows 8/8.1.