Configuring Windows 7 (Training Kit) - Part 62 doc

FIgUre 11-27 Configure basic plan settings A user who has an account that is not a member of the local Administrators group is able to modify what the power and sleep buttons do.. Advanc

Windows 7 allows you to configure basic and advanced settings for each plan The settings

that you can configure depend on your computer’s hardware configuration The Edit Plan

Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 11-27, allows you to configure a plan’s basic settings

Some computers do not support the Dim The Display or Adjust Plan Brightness settings

When you configure the basic settings of a plan, you configure different values for when

the computer is plugged in or when the computer is running on internal battery power On

desktop computers that do not use an internal battery, it is possible to configure only the

Plugged In settings

FIgUre 11-27 Configure basic plan settings

A user who has an account that is not a member of the local Administrators group is able

to modify what the power and sleep buttons do If they are able to elevate privileges, they

can also specify whether a password is required when the computer wakes from the sleep

state You can configure these options by clicking Choose What The Power Buttons Do, which

opens the Power Options System Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 11-28 The options that

you can configure are Sleep, Hibernate, Shut Down, and Do Nothing

Windows 7 supports the following sleep, shutdown, and hibernation modes:

n Sleep When Windows 7 is in the Sleep state, the processor and the majority of

system devices are in a off state The computer’s RAM remains in a

turned-on state so that it can maintain the user’s open applicatiturned-ons and documents Devices

that are configured to wake the computer from sleep, such as USB mice, keyboards,

and network cards, remain in a turned-on state If the computer is not woken after

a configurable amount of time, the computer transitions to the Hibernate state You

FIgUre 11-28 Configure power buttons

n hybrid Sleep Hybrid Sleep is a power-saving feature that is used with desktop computers that do not have a battery-based power backup If a desktop computer

is in Sleep mode and suffers an interruption to its power supply, data loss may occur The contents of the computer’s RAM are stored both in the RAM in a low-power state and as a special file on the hard disk When the Hybrid Sleep option is enabled, computers put to sleep use Hybrid Sleep rather than ordinary Sleep mode

n hibernate When Windows 7 is in the Hibernate state, all devices are turned off and the contents of the computer’s RAM are stored in a special file on the operating system volume All devices are in a turned-off state You can turn on a computer that is hibernating only by using the power buttons

n Shutdown In the Shutdown state, the contents of RAM are not preserved All devices are in a turned-off state

More Info Windows 7 pOWer MaNageMeNt

For more information about the new power management features available in Windows 7,

Advanced Power Plan Settings

To configure the advanced power plan settings, click the Change Advanced Power Settings

item in the Edit Plan Settings dialog box Unlike the basic plan settings, which a user who

is not a member of the local administrators group can modify, only a user with elevated

privileges can modify advanced power plan settings The advanced plan settings are shown in

Figure 11-29

FIgUre 11-29 Advanced power settings

Using the Advanced Settings dialog box in Power Options, you can configure the following

settings for both the On Battery and Plugged In states:

n require a password On Wakeup Specifies whether a password is required after the

computer resumes from hibernation or sleep

n turn Off hard Disk Specifies the period of inactivity after which to turn off the hard

disk drive

n Desktop Background Settings Specifies whether animated desktop backgrounds,

such as the slideshow background, are available when the computer is on battery or

plugged in

• Wireless adapter Settings Configure the power performance of the wireless

adapter Possible settings are Maximum Performance, Low Power Saving, Medium

Power Saving, and Maximum Power Saving Different settings influence the

performance of the adapter, reducing the adapter’s maximum range and speed

n Sleep This setting allows you to configure the Sleep and Hibernation periods for

a computer You learned about the difference between Sleep, Hybrid Sleep, and Hibernate earlier in this lesson The options are the following:

• Sleep after Specifies the period of inactivity after which the computer is put into sleep mode

• allow hybrid Sleep Specifies whether the computer can use Hybrid Sleep

• hibernate after Specifies the period of sleep after which the computer goes into hibernation

• allow Wake timers Specifies whether timed events should be allowed to wake the computer from sleep

n USB Settings Specifies whether selective suspend is enabled for USB

n power Buttons and Lid Specifies what happens to the computer when you close

a laptop computer’s lid, when you press the power button, and when you press the sleep button Options include Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut Down

n pCI express Specifies whether Windows 7 can utilize the PCI Express Link State Power Management feature with idle devices This can be configured to Moderate Power Savings, Maximum Power Savings, or Off

n processor power Management Specifies a minimum processor state and a maximum processor state in terms of percentage It is also possible to specify whether the system cooling policy is active

n Display Specifies the period after which to dim the display and the period after which to turn off the display It is also possible to specify the display brightness during normal use and the display brightness when set to the dim setting

n Multimedia Settings This section contains the following policies:

• When Sharing Media Configure the computer’s response when a remote computer is accessing media over the network Options include allowing the computer to sleep, prevent idling to sleep, and allowing the computer to enter Away mode

• Video playback Settings Options include optimizing video quality, balanced and optimize power savings

n Battery Specifies the Reserve, Low, and Critical battery levels as a percentage It is also possible to specify what action that the computer should take when the battery reaches the Low and Critical levels Actions include Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut Down

If the three power plans may not meet your specific needs, it is possible to create a custom power plan To create a custom plan, click Create A Power Plan in the Power Options control

Power-Related Group Policies

Group Policy settings related to Power Management are located in the Computer

Configuration\ Administrative Templates\System\Power Management node This node

contains five nodes, as shown in Figure 11-30

FIgUre 11-30 Power-related Group Policies

You can configure all the settings that you learned about in the section entitled “Advanced

Power Plan Settings,” earlier in this chapter, through these policies There are several

additional settings, located in the Sleep Settings node, that you can configure only through

Group Policy These settings are as follows:

n Allow Applications To Prevent Automatic Sleep

n Allow Automatic Sleep With Open Network Files

n Turn On The Ability For Applications To Prevent Sleep Transition

Each of these policies relates to whether applications or open network files can prevent

a computer from entering the Sleep state automatically When these policies are disabled,

only direct user input is taken into account when determining whether the computer should

enter the Sleep state These policies have no impact when a user puts the computer into the

Sleep state manually

Command-line Power Configuration

Powercfg exe is a command-line utility that you can use from an administrative command

prompt to manage Windows 7 power settings It is possible to use Powercfg exe to configure

a number of Windows 7 power-related settings that you cannot configure through Group

Policy or the Advanced Plan Settings dialog box You can use Powercfg exe to configure

specific devices so that they are able to wake the computer from the Sleep state You can

also use Powercfg exe to migrate power policies from one computer running Windows 7 to

another by using the import and export functionality Table 11-2 contains a list of some of the

Powercfg exe options and the tasks that they can be used to accomplish

taBLe 11-2 Powercfg.exe Options

-list Lists all the current power schemes

-query <scheme_guid> Displays the contents of the specified power

scheme

-change Use this to change a specific setting in the current

power scheme

-hibernate Use this to enable or disable the Hibernate feature

-devicequery <option> Lists devices that can wake the computer, as

follows:

n Wake_From_any Lists all devices that

support waking the computer from any Sleep state

n Wake_armed Lists all devices currently

configured to wake the computer from any Sleep state

-deviceenablewake <devicename> Enables the device to wake the computer from

Sleep state

-devicedisablewake <devicename> Disables the device from waking the computer

from Sleep state

-import / -export Allows you to migrate a power policy by import

and exporting power plans

-lastwake Provides information on what event last triggered

the computer to wake from sleep

-requests List application and driver power requests that

may prevent a computer from entering Sleep mode

-requestsoverride Allows you to override a particular application or

driver power request to stop it from blocking the computer from entering Sleep mode

-energy Check the computer for common energy-efficiency

and battery life problems Provides report in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format

More Info powercfg.exe

eXaM tIP

Remember what command-line command to use to determine which hardware devices can

wake a client running Windows 7 from sleep.

Practice Managing power plans

Custom power plans allow you to configure power management settings that best suit the

individual needs of your organization In this practice, you explore the process of creating

a custom power plan and then simulate migrating that plan to other computers running

Windows 7

exercise 1 Creating a Custom Power Plan

In this exercise, you create a custom power plan based on the Power Saver power plan and

configure advanced plan settings

1 Log onto computer Canberra using the Kim_Akers user account

2 In the Search Programs And Files text box, type power Options Click the Power

Options item to open the Power Options control panel

3 Select the Power Saver plan and then click Create A Power Plan

4 On the Create A Power Plan page, select the Power Saver plan and then enter the

custom name extreme power Saver, as shown in Figure 11-31, and click Next

FIgUre 11-31 New custom power plan

5 On the Change Settings For the Plan: Extreme Power Saver page, click Create In the

Power Options control panel, click Change Plan Settings On the Edit Plan Settings

dialog box, click Change Advanced Power Settings

6 In the Power Options Advanced Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 11-32, click Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable

FIgUre 11-32 Power Options Advanced Settings dialog box

7 Change the Require A Password On Wake Up setting to No

8 Expand the Power Buttons And Lid node Set the Sleep Button action to Hibernate

9 Expand the Processor Power Management node Set the Maximum Processor State to 80% Click OK Close the Edit Plan Settings dialog box

exercise 2 Migrating a Power Plan

In this exercise, you use the Powercfg exe command-line utility to export the plan that you created in Exercise 1 You then delete the plan you created and import it as a substitute for importing the plan on another computer

1 At an elevated command prompt, type powercfg.exe –list This should provide output similar to that shown in Figure 11-33, though the power scheme globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) will be different Take a note of the GUID assigned to the Extreme Power Saver plan You may want to use the command prompt ability to mark and copy data to copy the GUID to memory because you will need this identifier in step 4

2 Create the directory C:\Export if it does not already exist Change into this directory

3 Issue the command powercfg.exe –energy When the command finishes executing,

issue the command start energy-report.html This opens Windows Internet Explorer

FIgUre 11-33 List of plans and GUIDs

FIgUre 11-34 Energy Report

4 Issue the command powercfg.exe –export extreme.pow {GUID}, where {GUID} is

the GUID of the Extreme Power Saver plan

5 Issue the command powercfg.exe –setactive SCheMe_BaLaNCeD

6 Verify that the Balanced power scheme is set by issuing the command powercfg.exe

–list Make a note of the GUID assigned to the Extreme Power Saver plan

7 Enter the command powercfg.exe –delete {GUID}, where {GUID} is the GUID of the

Extreme Power Saver plan

8 Verify that the Extreme Power Saver plan has been deleted by issuing the command

powercfg.exe –list You should see only three power schemes, as shown in Figure 11-35

FIgUre 11-35 Verifying deletion of the power plan

9 Issue the command powercfg.exe –import c:\export\extreme.pow

10 Verify that the power scheme has been imported successfully by issuing the command

powercfg.exe –list You should see that the Extreme Power Saver plan is now

available

Lesson Summary

n Offline Files is a feature of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions that allows a user to manipulate a file that is hosted on a shared folder when he is not connected to the network that hosts the shared folder

n Offline Files creates a cached copy of the file on the local computer that is synchronized automatically with the file server whenever connectivity to the file server is established

n Sync Center can be used to perform a manual synchronization of offline files Sync Center can also be used to resolve synchronization conflicts that occur when an offline file and a shared file are modified during the same period

n Transparent caching provides automatic caching of files on shared folders that are on remote networks Transparently cached files are available only to the local computer and are not synchronized as offline files are

n Power Plans control how a computer running Windows 7 uses energy Normal users can select a power plan to meet their needs without having to elevate privileges

n The default Windows 7 Power Plan is Balanced Other plans that ship with Windows 7