Scheduling Sleep Mode via the Task Scheduler

   Information

This tutorial shows you how to schedule your computer to go into Sleep Mode via Task Scheduler. It uses a combination of the program PSShutdown and VBScirpt. The advantages of using this instead of the Power Policy is that it can place logged off computers to sleep as well.

PsShutdown.exe

Download PsShutdown.exe. Now place it in the %windows% folder, or if you place it somewhere else, note that location so that you can change it in the script below.

Scheduling the Task

Here's an example of a task set to run every hour. If the user you're attempting to use this through doesn't have privileges, then you can use this as a group policy log on script.

To explore scheduling tasks options, type "schtasks.exe /?" without quotes in a command prompt. Use the client computer if scheduling through a group policy.

Code:

SCHTASKS.exe /Create /S %computername% /RU "SYSTEM" /ST 00:00:00 /SC HOURLY /SD 01/01/2007 /TN "StandBy" /TR "cscript.exe C:\ValidPath\standby-hibernate.vbs

The Script

This script relies on the fact that PsShutdown.exe is placed in the %windows% folder. The location of the program can be changed to anywhere as long as PsShutdown.exe exists there and the system account has access rights. If you do change the directory, find the following line in the script below and change %windir%\psshutdown.exe to reflect the new location.

objShell.run "%windir%\psshutdown.exe -d -accepteula",

Code:

'** Script Name: "standby-hibernate.vbs" **
Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next
Dim strComputer, sUserName, bLoggedOn, bReboot, objWMIService, 
    colComputer, objComputer
Dim bStandby, objShell
strComputer = "."
 
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer 
    & "\root\cimv2") 
Set colComputer = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_ComputerSystem")
 
For Each objComputer in colComputer
    sUserName = objComputer.UserName
    'WScript.Echo "UserName:  " & objComputer.UserName
     If sUserName  <> "null" Then
         bLoggedOn = True
     End If
Next
 
If Err = 0 Then
    If bLoggedOn Then
        WScript.Echo strComputer & " 
            is not Logged Off."
        bStandby = False
    Else
        WScript.Echo strComputer & " 
            is Logged Off."
        bStandby = True
    End If
Else
    WScript.Echo "Error accessing computer:  " 
        & strComputer
    bStandby = False
End If    
On Error Goto 0
 
WScript.Echo "bStandby:  " & bStandby
 
If bStandby = True Then
    WScript.Echo "Going into standby..."
    'Go to standby
    objShell.run "%windir%\psshutdown.exe -d -accepteula", 
        0, False
Else
    WScript.Echo "Not going into standby..."
End If

Scripts from the Energy Star website.

Related Tutorials

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• How to Create a Task that will Shut Down the PC Automatically
• How to Create a Task to Wake up the Computer to Run in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Display a Message Reminder in Windows with Task Scheduler