How to disable power plan in Windows via GPO and Windows Settings

If you ever find your Windows 10 devices dimming their screen and this act irritates you, I will be describing various ways to prevent Windows from going into standby/sleep after a certain period of inactivity. The Energy Saver Mode feature mainly saves energy when the user is away. Power plans can help you save energy, maximize system performance, or achieve a balance between the two. Please refer to the following guides for related articles. Pre-requisites for setting up a Single and Multi App Kiosk, and how to disable the sleep mode in Windows 10 to never turn off the display.

A balanced power plan offers full performance when you need it and saves power when you are not accessing the PC. It’s the best power plan option chosen by most of the users. To disable the power saving option, follow the steps listed below.

Via Local Group Policy:

To Disable this via Group Policy Object (GPO), please follow the following steps below. Launch Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

Navigate to Computer Configuration
– Administrative Templates
– System
– Power Management
– Sleep Settings

Double click on “Allow Standby States (S1-S3) When Sleeping (Plugged In)” and set value do Disabled.

Also, do the same for “Allow Standby States (S1-S3) When Sleeping (On Battery)” and disable it.

Via Group Policy Management

You can also do this in a domain-wide environment. Launch Group Policy Management under Tools as shown below

This will open the Group Policy Management Window as shown below

Click on the domain or Group policy object,
– In my case, I decided to create a GPO before linking it, so I right-click on the Group Policy Object.
– Right-click on the policy and click on Edit as shown below

This will open up the Group Policy Management
– Expand the Computer Configuration and
– Administrative Templates
– System
– Power Management
– Sleep Settings as shown below

Double click on “Allow Standby States (S1-S3) When Sleeping (Plugged In)” and set value do Disabled.

Also, do the same for “Allow Standby States (S1-S3) When Sleeping (On Battery)” and disable it.

Note: Ensure to link the GPO to the right container (OU) and apply Group Policy Update as sown below

Via the Power Icon on the Taskbar

Right-click on the Battery icon from the bottom corner of the taskbar and choose Power Options from the list as shown below

This will open up the Choose or customise a power plan window. Select on Change plan settings on the balanced power plan as shown below

This will open the window where the Power saver mode can be changed. Choose Never from the drop-down menu for when plugged-in and on battery.

Via the Control Panel

The Power save mode can be configured never to sleep in the following steps via the control panel.
– Launch the Control Panel
– Punch on Hardware

Click on Power Options.

Click on Change plan settings on the balanced power plan as shown below

Choose Never from the drop-down menu for when pluggin and on battery.

Click on Save changes to ensure the settings take effect.

Via Windows Settings

These steps can be performed via Windows settings in the following ways as shown below.
– Launch the Windows Settings with Win+I keys from your keyboard
– Click on Systems

– Select Battery as seen below

Under the battery notification
– Click on Power and Sleep settings

– Choose Never from the drop-down menu for when plugged and on battery as shown below.

For disabling other windows settings, see this link. If you found other ways to have this done, please share in the comment session.

I hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.