Lesson 10: Configuring Power Options | MCSE Training Kit(c) Microsoft Windows 2000 Accelerated 2000

Controlling energy usage is becoming more and more of an issue with computer users. If a computer only uses power when it is actively being used (instead of the entire time it is powered on) a company or user can realize significant energy savings. This is especially important for portable computer and other mobile computer users. A mobile computer should only be using power when it is in use, as this could extend battery time.

The Power Options program in Control Panel in Windows 2000 Professional allows you to configure power schemes, Hibernation mode, and the Advanced Power Mangement (APM) specification. These utilities help you control energy use and hopefully extend your overall battery use time. This lesson discusses these utilities and how they are configured.

After this lesson, you will be able to

Configure power schemes
Enable Hibernate mode
Enable Advanced Power Management

Estimated lesson time: 15 minutes

Configuring Power Schemes

Power schemes allow you to configure Windows 2000 to turn off the power to your monitor and your hard disk, which conserves energy when you aren't actively using your computer. To configure power schemes, you use the Power Options program in Control Panel. Your hardware must support turning off the monitor and hard disk for you to be able to configure power schemes.

Using Hibernate Mode

When your computer hibernates, it saves the current system state to your hard disk, and then your computer shuts down. When you restart the computer after it has been hibernating, it returns to its previous state. Returning to the previous state includes automatically restarting any programs that were running when it went into Hibernate mode and even restoring any network connections that were active at the time. To configure your computer to use Hibernate mode, you use the Power Options program in Control Panel. Select the Hibernate tab in the Power Options Properties dialog box, and then select the Enable Hibernate Support check box.

CAUTION
Many commercial airlines require you to turn off portable computers during certain portions of your flight. Hibernate mode might make your computer appear to be turned off, but it is not. You must shut down your computer to comply with these airline regulations.

Configuring Advanced Power Management

Windows 2000 supports the APM 1.2 specification. Using APM helps reduce the power consumption of your system. To configure your computer to use APM, you use the Power Options program in Control Panel. Select the APM tab in the Power Options Properties dialog box, and then select the Enable Advanced Power Management Support check box. You must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group to configure APM.

NOTE
APM is available only in Windows 2000 Professional. It is not available in Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows 2000 Datacenter.

If your computer doesn't have an APM-BIOS installed, then Windows 2000 will not install APM, and the Power Options Properties dialog box will not have an APM tab. However, your computer can still function as an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI computer if it has an ACPI-based BIOS. The ACPI-based BIOS takes over system configuration and power management from the Plug and Play BIOS.

If your portable computer has an ACPI-based BIOS, you can insert and remove PC cards on the fly and Windows 2000 will automatically detect and configure them without requiring you to restart your machine. This is known as dynamic configuration of PC cards. Two other similar features rely on dynamic Plug and Play and are important to mobile computers: Hot and Warm Docking/Undocking and Hot Swapping of IDE and floppy devices.

With Hot and Warm Docking/Undocking you can dock and undock from the Windows 2000 Start button without turning off your computer. Windows 2000 automatically creates two hardware profiles for portable computers, one for the docked state and one for the undocked state.

With Hot Swapping of IDE and floppy devices you can remove devices such as floppy drives, DVD/CD drives, and hard disks; you can swap devices; or you can do both, without shutting down your system or restarting it. Windows 2000 Professional automatically detects and configures these devices.

Practice: Configuring Power Options

In this practice, you use Control Panel to configure power options.

Exercise 1: Configuring Power Options

Ensure that you are logged on as Administrator.
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Control Panel appears.
Double-click Power Options.
The Power Options Properties dialog box appears with the Power Schemes tab active. In the Power Schemes box, you can select one of the preconfigured power schemes or you can create your own.
In the Power Schemes box, select Portable/Laptop.
In the Turn Off Monitor drop-down list, select After 10 Minutes.
In the Turn Off Hard Disks drop-down list, select After 20 Minutes.
Click Save As, and then in the Save Scheme box, type Airplane and then click OK.
Click Apply.
Click the Power Scheme drop-down list arrow to verify that you just created your own power scheme. You should see Airplane listed.
From now on, whenever you want to use this power scheme, you would select it here and then click Apply.
Select the Hibernate tab.
Select the Enable Hibernate Support check box, and then click Apply.
By selecting the Enable Hibernate Support check box and clicking Apply, you enable Hibernate mode on your computer.
Select the APM tab.
NOTE
If you don't have an APM tab because your system doesn't have an APM-BIOS installed, skip this step and go to step 14.
Select the Enable Advanced Power Management Support check box, and then click Apply.
By selecting the Enable Advanced Power Management Support check box and clicking Apply, you enable APM support on your computer.
Click OK to close the Power Options Properties dialog box.

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned that the Power Options program in Control Panel allows you to configure power schemes, Hibernation mode, and the APM specification. You learned how each of these is configured. Power schemes allow you to configure Windows 2000 to turn off the power to your monitor and your hard disk, which conserves energy when you aren't actively using your computer.

When your computer hibernates, it saves the current system state to your hard disk before shutting down, and then when you restart the computer after it has been hibernating, it will return to its previous state. Returning to the previous state includes automatically restarting any programs that were running when it went into Hibernate mode and even restoring any network connections that were active at the time.

Finally, you learned that Windows 2000 supports the APM 1.2 specification. Using APM helps reduce the power consumption of your system. You must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group to configure APM. If your computer doesn't have an APM-BIOS installed, then Windows 2000 won't install APM, and the Power Options Properties dialog box won't have an APM tab. However, your computer can still function as an ACPI computer if it has an ACPI-based BIOS.