If I have a big download or process to run I go to Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Power Options > Edit Plan Settings > Put the Computer to sleep > Change '30 minutes' to 'Never' and then change it back once the process has been completed. This seems like an archaic process. Is there another way to do this?
I use a small free utility called 'Don't Sleep' - which allows a variety of functions to be configured, including scheduled shut down or hibernate.
E.g.- I set it to block sleep for long enough for the download to complete, then hibernate.
Thanks. I will try it out. I thought this is something Microsoft would have thought about as it is a common requirement.
I have also heard about a command line utility calledalthough I haven't used it.Code:powercfg.exe
Try powercfg /? at a command prompt. You will see it is not related to your requirement.
... and more..
A quick search shows this question being asked a good number of times; few solutions.
There are some browser extensions, but those aren't general solutions of course. I expect there is other freeware around.
I wonder what sysadmin's do, who have to install for long periods of time on multiple computers?
Returning to powercfg - you could disable sleep in a batch file:
powercfg -X -standby-timeout-ac 0
More:
command - Set a one line powershell for sleep and hibernate to turn off - Stack Overflow
You could also achieve what you want with a shortcut containing this [so you do not need to set up a batch file for the job]
- Set it to run minimised [right-click on the shortcut, Properties, Run - select Minimised]Code:%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c "powercfg -change standby-timeout-ac 0"
- Set it to run as Admin [right-click on the shortcut, Properties, Advanced, set Run as Admin]
If you want to set sleep to Never for both ac [mains power] & dc [battery] then use this combined version of the shortcut [which should also be set to minimised, run as Admin]
Code:%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c "powercfg -change standby-timeout-ac 0 & powercfg -change standby-timeout-dc 0"
When you want to return to your normal sleep delay then use this combined shortcut [which should also be set to minimised, run as Admin]
where I have assumed 60 mins on ac power & 10 mins on batteryCode:%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c "powercfg -change standby-timeout-ac 60 & powercfg -change standby-timeout-dc 10"
Denis
Last edited by Try3; 12 Jun 2018 at 13:49.
In practice, Don't Sleep allows you easily to set the time and the event (hibernate, shut down etc) on expiry, so is far more flexible and convenient for a personal user. What is missing is the ability to correlate the expiry of the sleep block with the end of the operation - say a download.
It is good that there are different options for this problem out there but Microsoft should have sorted this out a long time ago through a GUI within Windows.
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