System Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 11


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Power_plan_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to change the settings of a power plan to customize how you want in Windows 11.

A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how your computer uses power. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. A power plan is also known as a power scheme.

Changes made to a power plan settings will affect all users that use the same power plan as their default active power scheme.

Windows 11 includes the following power plans by default:
  • Balanced = Offers full performance when you need it and saves power when you don't. This is the best power plan for most people. Allows you to change your Power Mode.
  • Power saver = Saves power by reducing PC performance and screen brightness. If you're using a laptop, this plan can help you get the most from a single battery charge.
  • High performance = Maximizes screen brightness and might increase PC performance. This plan uses a lot more energy, so your laptop battery won't last as long between charges.
  • Ultimate Performance = Only available in the Windows 11 Pro for Workstations edition by default. Provides ultimate performance on higher end PCs. It builds on the current High-Performance policy, and goes a step further to eliminate micro-latencies associated with fine grained power management techniques. As the power scheme is geared towards reducing micro-latencies it may directly impact hardware; and consume more power than the default balanced plan. The Ultimate Performance power policy is currently not available on battery powered systems.
  • Custom = These are custom power plans created by a user on the PC and/or included by your PC manufacturer (OEM).
Reference:


Contents

  • Option One: Change Power Plan Settings in Settings
  • Option Two: Change Power Plan Settings in Control Panel
  • Option Three: Change Advanced Power Plan Settings in Control Panel




Option One

Change Power Plan Settings in Settings


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Power or Power & battery on the right side depending on if the PC has a battery. (see screenshot below)


Change_power_settings-1.png

3 Under Power, click/tap on Screen and sleep on the right side to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)

4 Make changes to the screen and sleep settings you want. (see screenshots below)

You will only see separate on battery and plugged in settings if your device has a battery or connected to a UPS.


Change_power_settings-2.png

5 You can now close Settings if you like.




Option Two

Change Power Plan Settings in Control Panel


1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Power Options icon.

2 Click/tap on the Change plan settings link to the right of the power plan you want to change the settings of. (see screenshot below)

Normally you would want to change the settings of your active power plan.


Change_power_plan_settings-1.png

3 Make changes to the display and sleep settings you want, and click/tap on Save changes. (see screenshot below)

You will only see separate on battery and plugged in settings if your device has a battery or connected to a UPS.


Change_power_plan_settings-2.png

4 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.




Option Three

Change Advanced Power Plan Settings in Control Panel


1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Power Options icon.

2 Click/tap on the Change plan settings link to the right of the power plan you want to change the settings of. (see screenshot below)

Normally you would want to change the settings of your active power plan.


Change_power_plan_settings-1.png

3 Click/tap on the Change advanced power settings link. (see screenshot below)

Change_advanced_power_plan_settings-2.png

4 Make changes to any available Power Options advanced settings you want, and click/tap on OK when finished. (see screenshot below)

You will only see separate on battery and plugged in settings if your device has a battery or connected to a UPS.

Available power options will vary per device.

You can click/tap on the Restore plan defaults button to restore all default settings for the selected power plan.


Change_advanced_power_plan_settings-3.png

5 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Last edited:
Thank you for these instructions! I had forgotten how the power options work. 😅
One question: I think back in the XP days you could only change power options as an administrator, but in Windows 11 it seems like you can change power options even as a regular non-admin user. Is that the way it´s supposed to work? I just tried it on my Win 11 laptop as a regular user and it does let me change power options, that´s a nice surprise!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
Thank you for these instructions! I had forgotten how the power options work. 😅
One question: I think back in the XP days you could only change power options as an administrator, but in Windows 11 it seems like you can change power options even as a regular non-admin user. Is that the way it´s supposed to work? I just tried it on my Win 11 laptop as a regular user and it does let me change power options, that´s a nice surprise!

Hello :alien:

I don't remember what it was like in XP, but all users are able to change settings of each power plan that are shared with all users.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
Users with S0 Modern standby computers [labelled as S0 Low power idle in the response to the command PowerCfg -a] should be aware that
  • Their computer enters S0 Modern standby when Power options turns off their display, and
  • When Power options sends their computer to "Sleep" it is in fact a deeper phase of S0 Modern standby in which Task scheduler tasks are inhibited [including any that are set to wake the computer].

Users with S0 Modern standby computers who want Task scheduler to be able to run tasks should therefore set the Power options Put the computer to sleep setting to Never.

In comparison tests that I ran, I was not able to find any difference in power consumption between S0 Modern standby and its deeper "sleep" phase.
Power consumption in sleep - my post #85 - ElevenForum


All the best,
Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3296

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