Running Control Panel Power Options from the Command Line
To access the Control Panel Power Options from the command line,
type
powercfg.cpl. Note: if you aren't logged
into an administrator account when you run it, you can
run it with administrator privileges by obtaining a command
prompt and then taking the following steps:
- Type
runas /user:administrator cmd to obtain a command
prompt under the administrator account. Note: you may have to use
owner or some other account in the administrator group,
depending on your particular system, instead of the administrator
account.
- Type
powercfg.cpl in the new command prompt window that
opens for the administrator account.
If you aren't logged in under an account in the administrator
group, you can't just open the Power Management window with
runas /user:administrator powercfg.cpl. If you try that,
you will get the message " powercfg.cpl is not a valid Win32 application."
For a list of of Control Panel tools and how to run them from the command
line, see
How to run Control Panel tools by typing a command.
[/os/windows/xp]
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SpeedFan
The Toshiba M35X-S109 laptop I've been using is periodically powering
itself off. Sometimes, when I power it back on, I notice that the
battery charge is listed as being very low when I check it with the
Toshiba Power Management utility in the Control Panel, though the utility
shows the system is on AC power and charging. Though I have that utility
configured to warn me when the battery charge is low and to hibernate when
the battery charge is about 5%, that doesn't happen. At other times, when
I immediately power it back on, I see that the charge level is high, e.g.
85% and it is shown as being on AC power.
Because I also hear the fan making a fair amount of noise at times, I thought
I would install a utility to monitor the fan speed and CPU temperature.
I used SpeedFan 4.37,
but found that the laptop's motherboard doesn't support such monitoring. The
temperature of the hard drive in the laptop can be monitored, though. I see it
varies between 34 and 37 degrees Celsius.
[/os/windows/utilities/sysmgmt]
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