Solved Blocking an application from changing power plan

Hello all,
I have a software on my laptop which changes my power plan to "High Performance" every time I run it. I am looking for a solution to prevent this application from doing this. The application is "SteamVR" and here is a log from when it dose the change:
Process C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\bin\win64\vrmonitor.exe (process ID:8788) reset policy scheme from {85d583c5-cf2e-4197-80fd-3789a227a72c} to {8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c}

I was thinking about settings a "default active power plan" via "Local Group Policy Editor" but I do change power plans depending on what I need and doing it this way will be a pain, as I will need to enable and disable this option in Local Group Policy Editor each time I want to run SteamVR.

Is there a way to prevent steam from doing the change? I also thought I would delete the power plan steam is switching to. But the strange thing is that I do not have such power plan! Here is the list of my plans:

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 16edbccd-dee9-4ec4-ace5-2f0b5f2a8975 (Legion Quiet Mode)
Power Scheme GUID: 2ff9268e-2a8d-4561-9d04-adc439890552 (Legion Audio Performance)
Power Scheme GUID: 52521609-efc9-4268-b9ba-67dea73f18b2 (Legion Performance Mode)
Power Scheme GUID: 62a1340d-2a81-4ed5-9915-799c7a37315c (Balanced Always On)
Power Scheme GUID: 85d583c5-cf2e-4197-80fd-3789a227a72c (Legion Balance Mode) *

The power plan {85d583c5-cf2e-4197-80fd-3789a227a72c} is my "Legion Balance Mode" (The one I want to keep active). But {8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c} is "performance Mode" Which I don't even have listed here! (is it hidden or does Steam create it each time I run it?)

So what do you guys think? anyway to prevent this?

{8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c} is a pre-defined GUID.
If you run "powercfg /restoredefaultschemes", then Balanced, Power Saver and High Performance plans will always return.

The problem is SteamVR runs with elevated rights, since it can obviously change the power plan on the fly. So a GPO wouldn't be able to block it. A sneaky hack would be to delete {8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c}, and clone your custom plan using its GUID.


While SteamVR will continue to switch power plans on you, there is no effective change since the two plans are the same.

I read a steam thread that says to open gpedit and specify a custom active power plan, but I don't see how that is helpful as you just want to prevent steamvr from changing it
The thread is from 2021 with the OP complaining that it's illegal (what?) with no real fix mentioned.

Unless this is helpful?

A GPO means the user can't switch plans themselves, and that's inconvenient since the OP has invested time in building custom power profiles.

garlin said:

{8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c} is a pre-defined GUID.
If you run "powercfg /restoredefaultschemes", then Balanced, Power Saver and High Performance plans will always return.

The problem is SteamVR runs with elevated rights, since it can obviously change the power plan on the fly. So a GPO wouldn't be able to block it. A sneaky hack would be to delete {8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c}, and clone your custom plan using its GUID.

Code:

>powercfg /l

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 2faa2338-c5f4-4867-bc08-2a9c73150dc3  (My Custom Plan 1) *
Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (High performance)
Power Scheme GUID: a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a  (Power saver)

>powercfg /delete 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

>powercfg /duplicatescheme 2faa2338-c5f4-4867-bc08-2a9c73150dc3 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (My Custom Plan 1)

>powercfg /list

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 2faa2338-c5f4-4867-bc08-2a9c73150dc3  (My Custom Plan 1) *
Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)
Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (My Custom Plan 1)
Power Scheme GUID: a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a  (Power saver)

While SteamVR will continue to switch power plans on you, there is no effective change since the two plans are the same.

Click to expand...

Damn! what a pleasure to be helped out by someone smart

Here’s an open sauce app to change power plans when a process runs. No experience with it myself.

Gimme a shoutout at your next DJ gig.

@garlin ,
Thanks a lot. I just tried it out and it works as intended. I can now run my Flight Sim and stay at 74 degrees instead of 98 with no performance loss!