Solved Keep Awake When Specific Application Is Running

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

That was simple, thanks!

It's working, now I just need to know how to run it without the powerscript terminal window, that should be possible.

One dumb question. I looked at the SnoozeGuard script and it was huge, what in the world was all that stuff doing?

pseymour · May 24, 2025

Darlin's post here should let you run without the PowerShell window showing.

The SnoozeGuard script is using a built-in Windows API function (SetThreadExecutionState) that lets a process tell Windows "hey I need the display to stay on" or "I need the system to stay on," or both.

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

garlin said:
For @antspants ‘s neighbors, who are offended every time he flashes them with his PS:

Code:

conhost —headless powershell -nop -ep bypass -f script.ps1

How exactly do I use this line of code? Is this just executed using a shortcut? I realize that script.ps1 contains my script that I want to run. I've never had occasion to run conhost like that.

pseymour · May 24, 2025

Shortcut, scheduled task, batch file, whatever you wanna do.

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

Great, thanks. I thinking of sending parameters to the powerscript I'm running, this can actually be a universal script that works for any process.

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

Well, not quite yet...

I can run this script directly in PowerShell and it works as expected. the script name is: SleepPreventByApplication.ps1


#--- Prevent Sleep When Specific Application Is Running    ---
Do {
    $PROC = Get-Process -Name 'vlc' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    If ($PROC)
    {
        $WSHELL = New-Object -com “Wscript.Shell”
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
#  Sleep here is for debug so I can see the scroll light blink
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
    }
    # sleep for 900 seconds
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
} While (1)

As intended, every 5 seconds (will be every 15 minutes) the scroll LED on the keyboard blinks briefly.

Then I made a batch job, the contents are.


conhost —headless powershell -nop -ep bypass -f "c:\BAT\SleepPreventByApplication.ps1"

No matter how I invoke this batch job, my script doesn't run. I tried running it from a shortcut, CMD prompt, or in PowerShell.

pseymour · May 24, 2025

I wasn't able to get it to start with the abbreviated switches for PowerShell, but it did work if I used the full switch name.

conhost.exe --headless powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "D:\SleepPreventByApplication.ps1"

Also note the headless switch has two dashes.

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

Well, I'm at a loss.

If i paste the script directly in powershell and it works perfectly. If I run it from this batch file, no workie. I put a beep in the loops to make sure I could tell when it was running, so I'm sure it's not running.

conhost.exe --headless powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\BAT\SleepPreventByApplication.ps1"

pseymour · May 24, 2025

Well, there is also the open source app Coffee, which supposedly will keep a device awake of a process is running. It's kind of old, so no idea if it still works today. It doesn't show the processes tab in the screen shots, but it does have one.

Keeping PC Alive While Accessing Disk Remotely

I have a PC that functions as a server and a media PC. It's extremely useful to have it go to sleep if no one is accessing it. However, it ignores any access over the network and will go to sleep in the middle of file transfers. Is it possible to keep it awake if someone is reading or writing...

www.elevenforum.com

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

Coffee just keeps the system alive permanently until you cancel it, I already have a utility to do that. I just don't want it to shutdown when I'm playing music and working at the workbench.

The bummer is that this script works perfectly if I paste it into PowerShell, just can't get it to run without the window. I right click on it and select Run with PowerShell and the window opens briefly and then closes. However, if I paste the contents of the scrip directly into a PowerShell window, it runs fine. I know I must be missing something basic in getting PowerShell to read the file and execute the script.

pseymour · May 24, 2025

Well clearly you didn't try it, because I just did. You seem to ignore suggestions of things that work; good luck with your thing that doesn't.

dacrone · May 24, 2025

just create a shortcut to the .ps1 file and change the target line of the shortcut to

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -NoProfile -File "C:\path\to\file.ps1"

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

pseymour said:
Well clearly you didn't try it, because I just did. You seem to ignore suggestions of things that work; good luck with your thing that doesn't.

I didn't try what? I was following your suggestion!

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

dacrone said:
just create a shortcut to the .ps1 file and change the target line of the shortcut to

Code:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -NoProfile -File "C:\path\to\file.ps1"

OK, I did that, no change. It opens the terminal window briefly and then closes, but the script doesn't run. If I open a PowerScript window and paste the contents of the script file in, the script runs perfectly.

Here's the exact script contents.

Contents of: C:\BAT\SleepPreventByApplication.ps1


Do {
#--- Prevent Sleep When Specific Application Is Running    ---
#    $PROC_NAME ="vlc"
#    $PROC = Get-Process $PROC_NAME
    $PROC = Get-Process -Name 'vlc' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    If ($PROC)
    {
        $WSHELL = New-Object -com “Wscript.Shell”
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
    }
    else
    {
        [console]::beep(500, 100)
    }
    # sleep for 900 seconds
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
} While (1)

Here's the shortcut properties, the script file is in folder C:\BAT

The entire Target line is: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -NoProfile -File "c:\bat\SleepPreventByApplication.ps1"

antspants · May 24, 2025

Time to embarrass myself?

This is supposed to check every 10 seconds if the program is running and adjusts sleep settings accordingly.
The PowerShell script continuously monitors whether a specific program is running. If the program is active, it prevents the system from sleeping by adding a temporary power request override. If the program closes, the override is removed, allowing normal sleep behaviour.

You should be able to save it as a ps1 and create a Task Schedule for it to start at logon

Powershell:

$processName = "YourAppName.exe"
while ($true) {
    if (Get-Process -Name $processName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
        powercfg -REQUESTSOVERRIDE PROCESS $processName SYSTEM
    } else {
        powercfg -REQUESTSOVERRIDE PROCESS $processName SYSTEM NONE
    }
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
}

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

antspants said:
Time to embarrass myself?

This is supposed to check every 10 seconds if the program is running and adjusts sleep settings accordingly.
The PowerShell script continuously monitors whether a specific program is running. If the program is active, it prevents the system from sleeping by adding a temporary power request override. If the program closes, the override is removed, allowing normal sleep behaviour.

You should be able to save it as a ps1 and create a Task Schedule for it to start at logon

Powershell:

$processName = "YourAppName.exe" while ($true) { if (Get-Process -Name $processName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { powercfg -REQUESTSOVERRIDE PROCESS $processName SYSTEM } else { powercfg -REQUESTSOVERRIDE PROCESS $processName SYSTEM NONE } Start-Sleep -Seconds 10 }

My PowerShell code appear to work fine if I load it into a terminal window, just not if I attempt to invoke it using a shortcut or a batch job. I was planning on just sticking the shortcut in the startup folder.

antspants · May 24, 2025

Powershell:

 Do {
#--- Prevent Sleep When Specific Application Is Running    ---
#    $PROC_NAME ="vlc"
#    $PROC = Get-Process $PROC_NAME
    $PROC = Get-Process -Name 'vlc' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    If ($PROC)
    {
        $WSHELL = New-Object -com “Wscript.Shell”
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
        $WSHELL.sendkeys(“{SCROLLLOCK}”)
    }
    else
    {
        [console]::beep(500, 100)
    }
    # sleep for 900 seconds
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
} While (1)

You could save that as a ps1 and use Task Scheduler?

Save your script as a .ps1 file (Example)

C:\Scripts\PreventSleep.ps1

Click "Create Basic Task…" on the right panel.

Name it something and click Next.

Set a trigger

Select "When a specific event is logged" or "When the computer starts or logon" (if you want it to run at startup).

Configure your preferred schedule (e.g., repeat every 30 minutes). If you need to

Set an Action

Select "Start a Program" and click Next.
Under Program/script, enter:
powershell.exe
Under Add arguments (optional), enter:
-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\PreventSleep.ps1"
Click Next and then Finish.

Configure Advanced Settings (Optional)

In Properties, check "Run whether user is logged in or not" (if needed).
Under Settings, enable "Allow task to be run on demand".

Test the Task

Right-click the task, choose Run, and check if it works.

gunrunnerjohn · May 24, 2025

I'll give Task Scheduler a try, don't know why it won't run from a shortcut properly.

antspants · May 24, 2025

Also, this was offered as an optermisation to your script. Does this also work?

Powershell:

$WSHELL = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell

Do {
    # Check if VLC is running
    $PROC = Get-Process -Name 'vlc' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    If ($PROC) {
        # Simulate Scroll Lock key press
        $WSHELL.SendKeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
        $WSHELL.SendKeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
    } else {
        [console]::beep(500, 100)
    }

    # Wait for 900 seconds before rechecking
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 900

} While ($true)

antspants · May 24, 2025

When you run the script, do you not get a UAC request to run or doesn't it need to be run as admin?

Solved Keep Awake When Specific Application Is Running

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