Fine-Tune a Custom Power Plan

Applies To: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how computers use and conserve power. You can create custom power plans that are optimized for specific computers.

You can manage most common power plan settings through Control Panel. For more information, see Create a Custom Power Plan. To fine-tune hardware-specific configurations that are not configurable through Control Panel, use the PowerCfg tool.

Manually Modifying a Power Plan

You can customize all configurable Windows power options by using the powercfg command from an elevated command prompt. This includes hardware-specific configurations that are not configurable through Control Panel.

To list the available power plans

1. On your technician computer, at an elevated command prompt, type the following:

   powercfg -LIST
   

   The computer will return the list of available power plans. In the following examples, these plans are Balanced and Power saver.

   Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
   -----------------------------------
   Power Scheme GUID: {guidPlan1}  (Balanced) *
   Power Scheme GUID: {guidPlan2}  (Power saver)
   

   Note the GUIDs that are listed next to the power plans that you want to change. You will need these GUIDs to manually update settings and capture the power plans.

To set the power plan to be modified as active

1. To modify a plan, use the GUID of the power plan that you want to change to set that power plan as the active power plan. For example:

   powercfg -SETACTIVE {guidPlan2}
   

To adjust the settings

1. This section describes how to manually configure other power configuration settings by using the powercfg command. Test these settings to create an optimal power plan for your system.

   Find information about the existing power setting.

   1. At an elevated command prompt, type the following:

      powercfg -QUERY
      

      The computer displays information for all of the power settings for this plan.

   2. Find the GUID for the subgroup of the setting that you want to change. For example, to modify a display setting, find the GUID for the Display subgroup:

      Subgroup GUID: {guidSubgroup-Display}  (Display)
      

   3. Find the GUID for the setting that you want to change. For example, to modify the Display Brightness setting, find the GUID for the (Display brightness) setting:

      Power Setting GUID: {guidPowerSetting-Brightness}  (Display brightness)
      

   4. Review the information from the query command, review the possible settings, and determine a value that works for your computer.

    For example, to set the maximum display brightness to 50 percent brightness, enter the value as 50. When you use the `powercfg -QUERY` command to confirm the setting, the value appears as 0x00000032.
    
        Power Setting GUID: {guidPowerSetting-Brightness}  (Display brightness)
              Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
              Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
              Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
              Possible Settings units: %
            Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
            Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000032

2. Adjust the value for the power setting for times when the computer is plugged in. For example, to set the display brightness level to 100 percent when the computer is plugged in, type the following:

   powercfg -SETACVALUEINDEX {guidPlan-New} {guidSubgroup-Display}  {guidPowerSetting-Brightness} 100
   

3. Adjust the value for the power setting for times when the computer is on battery power. For example, to set the display brightness level to 75 percent when the computer is on battery power, type the following:

   powercfg -SETDCVALUEINDEX {guidPlan-New} {guidSubgroup-Display}  {guidPowerSetting-Brightness} 75
   

4. Use the Query command to verify the setting. For example:

   powercfg -QUERY
   

   The computer shows the new power setting index in hexadecimal notation. For example:

   Power Setting GUID: {guidPowerSetting-Brightness}  (Display brightness)
         Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
         Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
         Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
         Possible Settings units: %
       Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
       Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000004b
   

   The hexadecimal value 0x00000064 represents 100 percent display brightness when the computer is plugged in. The hexadecimal value 0x0000004b represents 75 percent display brightness when the computer is using battery power.

See Also

Tasks

Create a Custom Power Plan
Set the Default Power Plan

Reference

Powercfg Command-Line Options