What are Power Options in Windows 11/10

Power Options is a setting in the Windows Control Panel, under the Hardware and Sound category, that allows the user to adjust their power plan and power settings on their computer. In a nutshell, these are pretty handy options that allow you to set up and enjoy just the right performance and battery balance on your computer. By tweaking them, you can favor performance over battery life and vice versa. In addition, they are what enables you to switch between power plans, choose what closing the lid, and pressing the power button to lead to, react to a critical battery level, etc.

Configure hidden Power Options in Windows 11/10

The Power Options we will be configuring are: To access the Power Options for the Power Plan you wish to configure, right-click the battery icon on the notification area on the taskbar, select Power Options, on the window that pops up, click on Change plan settings for that Power Plan, then click Change advanced power settings. Now let us see how to add or remove these Power Options in Windows 10.

1) Processor performance decrease threshold

The Processor performance decrease threshold setting in Power Options allows users to specify the lower busy threshold that must be met before decreasing the processor’s performance state (in percentage).

You must be signed in as an Administrator to add or remove this setting in Power Options. Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit the command prompt and restart your device.

2) Processor performance increase threshold

The Processor performance increase threshold setting in Power Options allows users to specify the lower busy threshold that must be met before increasing the processor’s performance state (in percentage).

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your device.

3) Allow Away Mode Policy

Away Mode does the following when invoked:

Shuts down the video signal at the port.Mutes all system audio.Blocks HID and PS/2 input devices.Puts the CPU into “adaptive” mode, which may save power depending on what’s running.Notifies kernel-mode and user-mode components of the transition.Notifies the BIOS through an ACPI control method of the transition.Wakes back up when flash devices (USB FOB, Flash card) are inserted.Wakes back up when an optical disc is inserted in the drive.

The intention here is to provide a “user not present” state to the machine so you can walk away, knowing that your recording is going to happen (or not be interrupted) while not badgering the user with a screen, audio, etc. It is not intended to be a power management state. The Allow Away Mode Policy setting in Power Options allows users to specify yes or no if away mode is to be enabled for your computer.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your device. Read: How to delete a Power Plan in Windows 10.

4) When sharing media

The When sharing media setting under Multimedia settings in Power Options allows users to specify what your computer does when a device or computer is playing media from your computer. Users can specify the following actions below:

Allow the computer to sleep = Devices and computers will not be able to play media from your computer while it sleeps.Prevent idling to sleep = Devices and computers will be able to play media from your computer unless you put it to sleep.Allow the computer to enter Away Mode = Devices and computers will be able to play media from your computer while it is in Away Mode.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your computer.

5) Allow system required policy

The Allow system required policy setting in Power Options allows users to specify yes (default) or no to allow programs to prevent the computer from going to sleep automatically.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your computer.

6) Allow sleep with remote opens

The Allow sleep with Remote Opens power setting configures the network file system to prevent the computer from automatically entering sleep when remote network files are open. This can allow your machine to go to sleep when files opened remotely have not been written to. Allow sleep with remote opens is turned off and not available to change in Power Options by default in Windows.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your computer.

7) System unattended sleep timeout

The System unattended sleep timeout power setting is the idle timeout before the system returns to a low power sleep state after waking unattended. System unattended sleep timeout is set to two minutes and not available to change in Power Options by default in Windows.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Exit command prompt and restart your computer.

The USB 3 Link Power Management setting in Power Options allows users to specify the power management policy to use for USB 3 links when they are idle. Users can specify one of the following policies:

Off = Do not enable the U1 U2 states.Minimum power savings = Enable the U1 U2 states, but choose conservative timeout values to optimize for performance.Moderate power savings = Enable the U1 U2 states, and choose optimal timeout values to balance power and performance.Maximum power savings = Enable the U1 U2 states, and choose aggressive timeout values to optimize for power.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer.

9) USB Hub Selective Suspend Timeout

The USB Hub Selective Suspend Timeout setting in Power Options allows users to specify the idle timeouts in milliseconds for all USB hubs.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer.

10) Allow display required policy

The Allow display required policy setting in Power Options allows users to specify whether Windows allows applications to temporarily prevent the display from automatically reducing brightness or turning off to save power.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer.

11) Lid close action

The Lid close action setting in Power Options lets users specify the default action to take when the laptop (system) lid is closed. Users can specify one of the following actions to take:

Do nothingSleepHibernateShut down

This will not affect the When I close the lid setting in Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do (System Settings).

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer.

12) Lid open action

The Lid open action setting (if supported) in Power Options lets users specify the default action to take when the laptop (system) lid is opened. Users can specify one of the following actions to take:

Do nothingTurn on the display

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

13) AHCI Link Power Management – Adaptive

The AHCI Link Power Management – Adaptive setting in Power Options specifies the period of AHCI link idle time in milliseconds before the link is put into a Slumber state when Host-Initiated Power Management (HIPM) or Device-Initiated Power Management (DIPM) is enabled. By default, AHCI Link Power Management – Adaptive is set to 0 (Only use partial state).

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

14) Hard disk burst ignore time

The Turn off hard disk after setting in Power Options lets users set to have hard disks (HDD) power down after a specified time of HDD inactivity is detected. Having your HDDs automatically turned off after being idle can help save energy and extend a PC’s battery life. Some Windows systems might exhibit very small amounts (bursts) of disk activity separated by relatively long amounts of disk idle time. This pattern of disk activity impacts system power savings because the disk is powered up periodically. The disk then remains in the spin-up state for at least the disk idle time out, even if the amount of disk activity that caused the disk to spin up is very small. The Hard disk burst ignore time setting in Power Options lets users ignore this burst of disk activity up to a specified time when the Turn off hard disk after setting is determining if a hard disk is idle. By default, Hard disk burst ignore time is set to 0 (do not ignore disk burst activity).

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

15) AHCI Link Power Management – HIPM/DIPM

The AHCI Link Power Management – HIPM/DIPM setting in Power Options allows users to configure the link power management mode for disk and storage devices that are attached to the system through an AHCI interface. AHCI Link Power Management is a technique where the SATA AHCI controller puts the SATA link to the internal HDD and SSD disk into a very low power mode when there. You can use the following settings:

Active = Neither HIPM or DIPM allowed. Link power management is not used.HIPM = HIPM (Host Initiated Link Power Management) only is allowedHIPM + DIPM = HIPM and DIPM are allowedDIPM = DIPM (Device Initiated Link Power Management) only is allowedLowest = HIPM, DIPM, and DEVSLP (if DEVSLP is supported by the storage device) are allowed.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

16) Video playback quality bias

The Video playback quality bias setting under Multimedia settings in Power Options allows users to specify the policy to bias video playback quality. Users can specify the following policies below:

Video playback power-saving bias = Video playback quality would be biased towards battery life.Video playback performance bias = Video playback quality would be biased towards performance.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

17) When playing video

The When playing video setting under Multimedia settings in Power Options allows users to specify the power optimization mode used by your computer’s video playback pipeline. Users can specify the following modes below:

Optimize video quality = Gives the optimum video quality during playback.Balanced = A balance of video quality and power savings.Optimize power savings = Gives optimum power savings during playback.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

18) Wireless Adapter Settings

The Power Saving Mode setting under Wireless Adapter Settings in Power Options allows you to control the power-saving mode of wireless adapters. The strength and performance of your wireless network will decrease as you increase power savings, but your battery life will increase. There are four power saving modes available to select from:

Maximum Performance = Achieve maximum wireless performance and no power savings.Low Power Saving = Achieve minimum power savings.Medium Power Saving = Balance between performance and power savings based on network traffic.Maximum Power Saving = Achieve maximum power savings.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

19) Networking connectivity in Standby

The Network connectivity in Standby setting in Power Options allows users to specify to enable (default), disable, or disable on lid close the network connection state in Standby.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

20) Adaptive backlight

The Adaptive backlight setting in Power Options allows users to specify how to optimize the color and backlight of the display to extend battery life without affecting image brightness.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer.

21) SEC NVMe Idle Timeout

In the Windows 10 Creators Update version 1703 (build 15063) and later, the SEC NVMe Idle Timeout setting in Power Options lets users set to have NVMe devices power down after a specified time in milliseconds of inactivity is detected. By default, SEC NVMe Idle Timeout is set to 100 milliseconds on battery, and 200 milliseconds plugged in.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your Windows computer.

22) Dimmed display brightness

The Dimmed display brightness setting in Power Options allows users to specify the brightness level in percentage for when your display is dimmed after the dim display after an idle timeout has been reached. This setting applies only to portable computers (e.g. laptop or tablet) that support Windows control of the brightness level of an integrated display device.

Open an elevated command prompt and execute the following command: To Add: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: To Remove: Copy and paste the following and hit Enter: Restart your computer. I hope you’ll find these configurations useful.