Power is an autohotkey script used to manage when a computer goes to sleep. I have found that Windows sleep management is not reliable. This script will ensure that your PC goes to sleep or stays awake when you want it.
- Control how long your computer is idle before sleeping
- Use Windows native power configuration for processes, drivers or services that prevent sleep
- Ability to prevent sleep when sharing files on the network by file extension (.mp3, .mkv, etc.)
- Blacklist programs from preventing your computer from sleeping (never prevent sleep)
- Whitelist programs that will prevent your computer from sleeping (always on)
- Separate whitelist and timing for media programs (longer idle before sleep). Media programs will be closed when sleep is initiated.
- Forced sleep schedule per hour (always sleeps unless you are sharing files or have an always on process)
- Always on sleep schedule per hour (will always stay on even if idle)
- Debug mode to see what is prenting sleep
- Ability to launch a custom script to sleep the computer
- Icon indicating the current system status
- Green = The computer is scheduled to be always on at this time
- Yellow = The computer has blockers preventing sleep
- Red = The computer has no blockers and will sleep after the specfied interval
The script is provided as an AutoHotkey script or a Windows .exe. You can use either, but the program must be run as Admin in order to access the Windows power configuration information. To use the shared files functionality, you must download a copy of PsFile and place it in the lib directory as Microsoft does not allow users to redistribute the file
After you launch the program for the first time a power.ini configuration file will be created. This controls the application settings. Here are the options you can configure:
- Delay: Idle time before sleep is initiated. The value is a 6 digit number indicating how many days, hours and minutes before sleep (DDHHMM). By default this is set to 000010 (10 minutes).
- SharedFiles: (1/0) Prevents sleep if the system has open shared files. Works in conjunction with the Extensions setting.
- Extensions: Comma separated list of file extensions that will prevent sleep if SharedFiles is enabled. By default this is ".mkv,.avi,.wtv,.exe,.iso,.mp4,.wtv,.ts"
- Processes: Comma separated list of programs that will prevent sleep if they are running on the system. Ex: "comskip.exe,ffmpeg.exe".
- IgnoreProcesses: Comma separated list of programs to ignore when using Windows power configuration requests . Works in conjunction with PCFG_Process setting.
- PCFG_Process: (1/0) Use the out of the box Windows power request managment for preventing sleep per applications. See the Power Requests section.
- PCFG_Service: (1/0) Use the out of the box Windows power request managment for preventing sleep per drivers. See the Power Requests section.
- PCFG_Driver: (1/0) Use the out of the box Windows power request managment for preventing sleep per services. See the Power Requests section.
- AlwaysOnWhenSharing: (1/0) When using the SharedFiles and Extensions settigns above, this setting will prevent sleep no matter the schedule configuration you have made (see Schedule section).
- AlwaysOnProcesses: List of processes that will prevent sleep no matter what scheduling configuration you have (see Schedule section).
- DebugMode: (1/0) When enabled, a tooltip will appear showing your settings, a list of any sleep blockers, and an idle count down timer. Data is refreshed based on the RefreshInt setting
- RefreshInt: How long in milliseconds to recheck system state and refresh the UI when using debug mode. By default set to 30 seconds.
- MediaIdleEnabled: (1/0) Toggle to enable media process idle blocking. Media processes work the same as Processes except there is separate idle timeout. Good for music, videos, and games.
- MediaProcesses: Comma separated list of media programs to hat will prevent sleep if they are running on the system. Ex: "ehshell.exe,kodi.exe,spotify.exe".
- Delay: Idle time before sleep is initiated for media processes. The value is a 6 digit number indicating how many days, hours and minutes before sleep (DDHHMM). By default this is set to 000200 (2 hours).
- ScheduledOn[0-24]: (-1/0/1) For each hour in the day there is a ScheduledOn variable that will control the scheduling aspect of the program.
** 0 means that there is no schedule configured for that hour ** 1 means that this hour is scheduled to keep the computer on despite any other idle settings ** -1 means that this hour is schedule to sleep unless there is an always on setting in place.
The PCFG_Process, PCFG_Service, PCFG_Driver work in conjunction with Windows application, driver and service Power Requests. These settings will not modify the out of the box functionality within Windows.
When the program runs a logging subdirectory will be created. There will be 3 log files in this directory:
- power.log - Main program log. A new entry will be written every time sleep is initiated from this program
- files.txt - The list of open shared files. This list is generated by the provided psfile.exe in the lib folder. This is the raw output of psfile.exe
- requests.txt - The raw output of the Windows powercfg /requests command.
When sleep is initiated, the sleep.exe executable is called in the scripts subdirectory. By default this executes the system sleep command:
DllCall("PowrProf\SetSuspendState", "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", 0)
The original script is included so that you can customize and replace the sleep.exe if desired.