Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10  

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
    Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10

    Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10

    How to Export and Import a Power Plan in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Performance & Maintenance
    18 Nov 2019
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Export and Import a Power Plan in Windows 10


    A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that manages how computers use and conserve power. A power plan is also known as a power scheme. You can create custom power plans that are optimized for specific computers.

    By default, Windows 10 includes three built-in power plans: Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance. You can customize these existing plans for your systems, create new plans that are based on the existing plans, or create a new power plan from scratch.

    You can export a power plan and all its settings to a .pow file, then be able to import the .pow file to restore the power plan and it's settings on any Windows PC.

    This tutorial will show you how to export (backup) and import (restore) a power plan along with its settings in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able export and import power plans.



    Contents








    OPTION ONE

    To Export a Power Plan


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Copy and paste either command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter to see a list of all existing power plans on the PC along with their GUID. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg /L

    OR

    powercfg /List

    Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10-backup_power_plan-1.png

    3 Make note of the GUID of the power plan (ex: "My Custom Plan 1") you want to export. (see screenshot above)

    4 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter to export the power plan. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg -export "%UserProfile%\Desktop\PowerPlanBackup.pow" GUID

    Substitute GUID in the command above with the actual GUID from step 3 of the power plan you want to export.

    For example: powercfg -export "%UserProfile%\Desktop\PowerPlanBackup.pow" 48569655-ebee-4428-b456-512f207cddc2

    Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10-backup_power_plan-2.png

    5 A PowerPlanBackup.pow file will be saved to your desktop as the backup of the power plan. You can rename this file to anything you like, but it must keep the .pow file extension. Save the file to where you like to keep it at.

    6 When finished, you can close the command prompt if you like.






    OPTION TWO

    To Import a Power Plan


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter to import the power plan. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg -import "Full path of .pow file"

    Substitute Full path of .pow file in the command above with the actual full path of the .pow file of the power plan you exported in Option One.

    For example: powercfg -import "%UserProfile%\Desktop\PowerPlanBackup.pow"

    Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10-import_power_plan.png

    4 When finished, you can close the command prompt if you like.

    5 Users on the PC will now be able to select the imported power plan as their active power plan.


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 103
    Windows 7-pro-sp1 and windows 10-pro-1803
       #1

    Brink, thank you for this. Should come handy when I mess up.
    I did it in elevated cmd. The backups went to admin desktop which is ok.
    Is there anyway to backup the many settings in each plan in a readable .txt format?

    Not sure I understand the impact of point 5. Does this mean that I can now pick another plan from the one I now use and so the new plan becomes active and replaces current?

    And should we restart on changes?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,667
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Hello 91fw, :)

    If you have an existing power plan with the same name as the imported power plan, it would replace it.

    If you like, you can use the command below to list all of your power plan GUID numbers.

    powercfg /List

    Afterwards, you could use the command to output the contents of a power plan to a .txt file on your desktop. You would substitute GUID in the command below with the actual GUID of the power plan you want the details of.

    POWERCFG /QUERY GUID >"%UserProfile%\Desktop\PowerPlan.txt"
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 103
    Windows 7-pro-sp1 and windows 10-pro-1803
       #3

    Brilliant.
    Long ago I disabled hibernate and fast boot. In advanced power setting GUI, in that little window with many settings, hibernation is nowhere to be seen, not in SLEEP, not anywhere.
    I expected to see it there and to be set to NEVER or zero or false.
    Hence my question, and I think I see they do have many variants of hibernation in the .txt output. They just hide it from us. I hate it when M$ does this sort of thing.
    What would we do without your guidance, Brink? Thank you :)
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68,667
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    You're most welcome. I'm glad it could help. :)
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 103
    Windows 7-pro-sp1 and windows 10-pro-1803
       #5

    Brink, After upgrade to 1703, I got hit with screen going black and harddrive turning off 2 min of inattention, so I ask:
    what does the "Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001" mean? in this context
    Power Setting GUID: 7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0 (System unattended sleep timeout)
    GUID Alias: UNATTENDSLEEP
    Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
    Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
    Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
    Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000078
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000078
    I ask because fiddling with that increment (change 1 to 2) fixes the unwanted sleep after 2 minutes. It looks to me like it's unhide the setting in advanced power list, but I can't be sure.

    I was afraid to import the settings from previous version of windows.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 68,667
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Hello 91fw, :)

    The "Possible Settings increment" value lets you know in what increment you change the power plan setting with.

    The tutorial below can help give more details about this power plan setting.

    Change System Unattended Sleep Timeout in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 103
    Windows 7-pro-sp1 and windows 10-pro-1803
       #7

    Thanks, for now. I'm unclear why changing it to 2 in the registry made it possible for me to finally fix the unwanted frequent sleep state.
    Also how is that SYSTEM unattended timeout different from SLEEP - The link you posted (thanks!) is about tasks. I have none. No, I have a million of whatever M$ put in and I don't wade through them at all.
    Oh, this was the registry place:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Power > PowerSettings > 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20 > 7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0
    Attributes.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 68,667
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I'm not sure why that would have helped with the hard drive turning off either. Usually, you would use this below for that.

    Turn Off Hard Disk After Idle in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

    ...and this below for turning off the display.

    Change Turn off Display after Time in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 103
    Windows 7-pro-sp1 and windows 10-pro-1803
       #9

    I now understand why it worked because I found
    Add System unattended sleep timeout to Power Options in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials where you showed the meaning of 1 and 2.
    Brink, your tutorials are fabulous once you know few magic incantations for searching.
      My Computer


 

Tutorial Categories

Export and Import Power Plan in Windows 10 Tutorial Index Network & Sharing Instalation and Upgrade Browsers and Email General Tips Gaming Customization Apps and Features Virtualization BSOD System Security User Accounts Hardware and Drivers Updates and Activation Backup and Restore Performance and Maintenance Mixed Reality Phone


  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 16:32.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums