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)



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)

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

   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

   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

---

• How to Create or Delete a Custom 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 Restore the Default Power Plan Settings in Windows 7
• How to Run a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Require Password on Wakeup in Windows 7
• How to Create a Shortcut to Change Power Plans in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Add "Choose Power Plan" to Desktop Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• 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 Turn Off Hard Disk After so many Minutes of being Idle or Never
• How to Turn On or Off "USB Selective Suspend" for Idle USB Devices
• How to Specify Default Power Plan for All Users in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8

 

[Mushu]

Is it possible to set it to automatically change from High Power plan to the Power Saver plan when you use the battery on Windows 7 like you could with 3rd Party programs on Vista?

 

[Brink]

Hello Mushu,

No, but since you have separate On Battery and Plugged In settings, you can set how you want it be in the Advanced Power Plan Settings for that power plan for when you are on battery instead to basically run that way.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[DarkDavil]

Thanks Brink Im not really noticing a big difference in speed, but im sure its their

 

[Brink]

Hello DarkDavil,

This may help some more with that.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-speed-up-performance-windows-7-a.html

 

[ratePV]

Using High performance on all desktops and balanced/power saver
on my laptop.
Sure can feel the difference between HP and Balanced(especially
when closing windows(faster responce time)!
the only flaw is that in HP mod power consumption a generation of heat is
bigger!
Luv your tutorials! Very useful!

 

[CarlTR6]

I use a modified balanced plan. My rig is old so I am not worried about high performance. My computer runs 24/7 so I have my wireless run all of the time. My HD's turn off after one hour and my monitor after ten minutes. I have sleep disabled.

 

[typ911411and718]

changing power plan display

hi, the way i'm seeing my power plans display is always by two, and "balance" is always there, i want to know how i can change that to showing either three or "high" and "power save".

thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Typ, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you mean the power plans that are displaying on the taskbar notification "Power" icon, then you cannot change the what is displayed. However, you can use the tutorial below to create your own custom shortcut to switch between the power options of your choice, and be able to pin them to the taskbar to make using them easier if you like.

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

If this is not what you meant, then please let me know.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[typ911411and718]

thanks

oh great, this is pretty cool, i'll check it out. thanks.

though it sucks that the display can't be changed, this might be better....

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. I hope it will serve your needs.

 

[typ911411and718]

now i have another issue, is it possible to link certain actions with a power plan.

for instance, i want to open every program in my system when i use high.
or
i want to close out all my widgets and turn my wallpaper to black when i use low.

something along those lines...

P.S. the shortcuts are pretty good....now if i can just limit the spacing between my icons in my toolbar it would be perfect.

 

[Brink]

Sorry, but no you will not be able to combine actions like that with these shorcuts.

You might see if using Quick Launch to place whatever shortcuts you like in may be able to help with the spacing issues.

 

[typ911411and718]

yea....no....i already know about that. i need something that offers the feature available in previous versions of windows. the feature of having additional toolbars on the sides of your screen. the feature where you can just drag a folder and let it go at the edge of the screen and a toolbar magically appears....

...but thanks for the suggestion. if you know if windows has hidden that feature, i must know....the future of my hair not turning gray depends on it...(lol)....

 

[Brink]

Unfortunately the Desktop Toolbar feature that was in Vista has been removed in Windows 7.

However, the free program Fences (personal use version) may be able to work for this instead.

 

[typ911411and718]

hmmm....not a big fan of adding another program when it should be native, but i'll check that out...thanks. also, not so keen on stardock either, but it might be because i used a cracked version once...ha...

 

[Brink]

It's a pretty good program. Please let me know what you thought about it.

 

[marwerno]

Never tried it, but you should be able to make a .bat file with the programs you want to start? (And if they support the close options in command line for closing as well).
Regarding the spacing of the icons:
There is a option to have SMALLER icons on the quick launch or start bar, this also solves partially the spacing issue (If I now could just remember where is have set that...let's see....

Go to:
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Personalization
Go to (on the bottom) to "Window color"
You will get the old "Classic" personalization screen with all the options there (you might find some others things in there that you want to change)
In the drop down under "item" there are several settings for icons and other things to fine tune. Note that not everything always works as you might expect (since they introduced themes... :-(, especially if you don't use a Classic theme, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[karlsnooks]

Shawn,
Here's how i select/change the active power plan:

WIN + X key combo | Battery status section | choose from drop down box.

Win being the key with the Microsoft flag on top.

 

[marwerno]

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)