Disable Power Management on Windows Vista
If you are using a desktop computer, chances are that you don't want the computer to go to sleep automatically. This is even more the case if you are running Vista in a virtual machine for testing purposes.
Disabling power management is simple and easy. First go to the start menu and click on the Control Panel.
Click on the System and Maintenance link:
Then click on the Power Options link:
Then select High Performance:
This will disable the automatic sleep mode, but will still turn off the display. You can click on Change Plan Settings to disable that as well if you want.
Tested on: Windows Vista RC1
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 10/28/06 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Vista Tips & Tweaks, System Administration
Hi,
I cant get the screen to go off, no matter what power settings I use. Must be somthing running that stops it. It won't turn the screen off. I disabled everything in MSCONFIG but it dosent help.
Vista ultimate RTM.
That's interesting, because I had problems getting the screen to NOT turn off, which is why I wrote this article.
I'll look into it.
Hi, Anyone figured how to get the battery subsystem working in windows vista?
Thankyou Geek!! you did it again…
Is there a way to completely remove the power management on vista? I would prefer using quickset from dell to do these tasks. Any help would be great!
Hi, I have a problem with Vista. I need my PC to stay on 24/7 so I can access it remotly from other locations.
Every morning, when I get to the office, the PC is on, I see my screen but the mouse and keyboard is locked up. Also if I try using logmein from another PC it tells me that the computer is offline.
The only remedy is to turn the PC off and on again. This happens every night.
Any ideas?
Hi,
Any progress on Kurt's problem of November 28?? I can't get any power plans to work,either to turn off display or sleep, on battery or AC.
Running Home premium on Toshiba P200/X01 laptop.
my new slimline (vista of course) is really slow on starting up. the lights on the tower turn on but nothing happens for a good 5 mins or so and the display often goes to sleep while waiting for the computer to come alive….how do I fix this so I don't have to turn the computer on and off for the OS to finally start up?
I do all this and still can't prevent vista from turing my screen off, and then it won't come back out of sleep. The strangest thing is that if I'm in a game or similar program it turns the screen off even if I am being active.
I have the problem that my monitor goes off every 5 seconds. I have changed my power plan to high performance with never turning off the monitor. My dell monitor says "monitor is in power save mode. change through PC". Help Please!
By way of information, running Vista in a virtual machine is against the EULA. Thanks for the article, though!
I regret buying Vista. I do not recommend. I got 2gig of RAM memory and I still have a slow machine.
Gates sucks.
I have a dell desktop and for some reason my system is in sleep mode and am unable to view anything except for when I press certain button it tell me that it is in sleep mode and to press any button however it does not change the status of the system any
I just bought a HP laptop dv 2000 . running vista home.
Any time i make the laptop turn off, hibernate, or sleep, the screen turns off right away.
Normally I dont concern with this. but the thing is, sometimes the system stuck, without going hibernation or sleep at al. I tried to wait for like 10 minutes, but it just stuck there. The lights are still on. But not going to sleep/hibernate at all. How can I know wat 's going on? because the stupid screen is off already.
Any of you know how to deal with the problem? Thank you so much.
Ok, I've got a laptop here, and I can't seem to fix my power buttons. When i change the options from Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance they all do what they usially do.. dim the screen, lower a few setting etc. However! It does NOT change the fact that my laptop constantly enters hibernation mode when I close the lid. It does this on all the settings, and even when it says in the power options that it will sleep when the lids closed and shut down when i press the power button… it still hiberanates.
Any ideas?
i'm using vista,i have set a time to trun off display but it does not function
I guess I can add my experiences to the list above. I just got a HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop running Vista Home Premium for Xmas. I have messed with all the power settings trying to stop the laptop from shutting down the monitor and disks after an extended time of non-use (say 12 hours). I leave the laptop on all the time and just close the lid when I am done. I have noted that the disk light flickers up until the 12 hour time and then everything just locks up. All power and lights are on but I don't know how to get it out of standby mode. The only solution is to press and hold the power button and then reboot. This all sounds the same as many of the posts above. Has anyone posted a solution?
I, too, am having trouble with Vista Power Settings, but only on my desktop and not on my laptop. The laptop is a Sony n320E with Vista Premium. The desktop problems sound very much like the listing from Memmons, where the desktop cuts out after a period away from the computer and shuts off. Nothing will bring it back, until you reboot by pressing Start. Then I get a windows error message and it tries to restart in Safe Mode. I choose Restart normally and it does, slowly, but I notice that the time function is off by hours and has to be reset. I hate all of this and have sent the desktop back to eMachines/Gateway two times without result, and now they want me to send it back a third time. Not sure they know how to handle it. They suspect Vista, and are waiting for patches that haven't come, and they suggested I come here (or just Google it). I have tried the High Performance Options mentioned by others, with no effect. Help would be appreciated
i turn my computer on . turn the screen on then the green light on the screen turns orange. and the screen goes blank can any 1 help please .
my toshiba l40 celeron laptop won't turn the srceen on but the power button is light up.
what can i do to make it work?
Hi,
I am Using Win Vista on my hp laptop i have a problem on my laptop
when i shutdown my laptop laptop is going to shutdown but all LED is blinking continous.\
please help me …
thanks
hey guys, with my sony vaio when i changed power modes from optimized or high performance to POWER SAVE it sometimes stops playing music.
I cnat even reactivate it by using a different Power Sheme.. I have to restart computer fully.
Restarting in any mode even Power Saver and the sound works again.
Just switching between Power Shemes and Power Saver does result in not playing any sound.
Want to know how I can disable the power button in vista on the login screen as my son who has autism likes the red button and shuts off my computer?? That way I can lock the desk top and not have to go and restart again??? as in xp the nt screen thebuttons where al one color and he could not or didn't shut the computer down !!
Thank you so much. I will try it
Hi,
I disabled the power management on my Toshiba Satelite P200 but it still goes into hibernation. While this is annoying it isn't that big of a issue but what is a issue is that it stays there. Pressing a button or even the power switch has no effect whatsoever. It usually stays in hibernation for a couple of days until the battery runs out after it will finally reboot. I guess you'll have to starve the sucker to get it to listen to you.
It runs on windows vista home premium. Other that this i really have no other problems. As long as you avoid the standby function like it was the plague it runs just fine.
Guys, I have Dell XPS M1330 here. I want my laptop not to run power saver. I disabled pwoer saver. I tried changing every settings in powr saver, power management etc. put settings all in "never". even tried 1 hour setting to hibernate, sleep and power save. take note. i always click save settings in eberthing i have done.. and presto! nothing has changed. it sleeps every 2o minutes. Vista power saver really sucks! i tried attaching a keyboard and pressing all letters innit.. but stilllllllll.. iwww~ it sucks! what can i do? pls help me!
I have had the problem with my monitor also where it goes to sleep and then loses the DVI signal and will not come back on. I have to push the power button to shut down the computer most of the time in order to get the monitor back on. I called HP and they say its the NVIDIA but I downloaded their "fix" and it doesn't seem to be working. I will try the power settings and see if that helps.
I have an HP Pavilion desktop with vista. When I leave mine on for a lengthy time and it is in sleep mode, when I return to it I have a blue screen with an error report. It has happened a few times now but only after it has been in sleep mode awhile. If I turn it off each time and on again when I return, so far it hasn't happened. Only when in sleep mode. Isn't that odd? I assume sleep mode isn't healthy for the machine.
I have noticed that my secondary hard drive switches off after a while and when I access data from it it comes back to life.
In general I think that's a good idea but I'm just afraid that if its switching on and off frequently, the life time of the hard drive is shortened significantly because HDs are meant to run in one go - not like a DVD drive which only operates when accessed.
That is not such a big problem, but when the second HD is idle and I switch off Windows Vista, a few seconds before the system goes off the HD comes to life and starts spinning - just to switch of afterwards. I think that can't be good for the drive though.