How to Configure Power Options using Intune
It is now easy to manage and configure power options using Intune Settings Catalog for Windows 10/11 devices. Let’s explore the different power options that you can configure for Windows devices using Intune.
Power Management in Intune is helpful for organizations that have to monitor and reduce the power consumption of the devices. By configuring the power options in Intune, you can apply a common set of power settings to your managed devices. Windows 11 devices come with a default power plan applied, which may be tweaked via settings catalog.
Organizations that don’t use Intune, can apply power plans to the Windows devices using Configuration Manager. Refer to the guide on configuring power management in SCCM that explains how you can apply power plans to device collections in your hierarchy. Configuration Manager also lets you exclude devices from power management.
Ways to Manage Power Plans using Intune
There are three ways to configure power options using Intune, and they are described below.
- Create custom profiles in Intune and use OMA-URI settings to configure power management options.
- Use Intune Settings catalog to manage power options on Windows devices.
- Use a PowerShell script to configure power settings in Intune.
Prerequisites
Before you use Intune to manage power options on your devices, please go through the below prerequisites
- You must first enroll your devices in Intune. Only when you enroll Windows devices in Intune, you can manage them in Intune admin center.
- Make a list of settings that you want to define within the power plan. A power plan is a set of hardware and system parameters that controls how much power your computer uses. The list of power options that you can configure in Intune is listed in the next section. This is a crucial step because the power settings will vary from organization to organization.
- Before you deploy power plans with Intune, create a pilot group for testing. The group can include set of users/devices who are ready to test the deployment. Upon successful deployment, you can expand the deployment to other business groups.
Restrict users from editing power plan
On a Windows 11 PC or Windows 10 laptop, the most common power option that most users configure is power and sleep settings. On Windows 11 PC, to adjust power and sleep settings, one can go to Start > Settings > System > Power & battery > Screen and sleep.
While the users can configure the desired power options on their laptops, this is not something many organizations allow. For example, most employees in an organization don’t want to let their laptop sleep mode. This increases the power consumption even though the laptop is not in use.
Most organizations lock down power option for non-admins in the control panel. With Intune, you can also prevent users changing the settings from power plan. In addition, the power settings configured in Intune can be assigned only to required groups and not everyone.
List of available Power Options in Intune
The table below lists all the available Intune power options that you can configure. Each of these options are found in the Settings catalog and can be configured with predefined values.
| Intune Power Options Name | Power Option Description |
|---|---|
| Select Lid Close Action Plugged In | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user closes the lid on a mobile PC. |
| Turn Off Hybrid Sleep On Plugged In | This policy setting allows you to turn off hybrid sleep when the computer or laptop is plugged in. |
| Turn Off Hybrid Sleep On Battery | This policy setting allows you to turn off hybrid sleep when the computer or laptop in on battery. |
| Energy Saver Battery Threshold Plugged In | This policy setting allows you to specify battery charge level at which Energy Saver is turned on. |
| Energy Saver Battery Threshold On Battery | This policy setting allows you to specify battery charge level at which Energy Saver is turned on. |
| Unattended Sleep Timeout Plugged In | This policy setting allows you to specify the period of inactivity before Windows transitions to sleep automatically when a user is not present at the computer. |
| Unattended Sleep Timeout On Battery | This policy setting allows you to specify the period of inactivity before Windows transitions to sleep automatically when a user is not present at the computer. |
| Select Sleep Button Action Plugged In | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user presses the sleep button when the computer is plugged in. |
| Select Sleep Button Action On Battery | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user presses the sleep button when the computer is on battery. |
| Select Power Button Action Plugged In | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user presses the power button when the computer is plugged in. |
| Select Power Button Action On Battery | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user presses the power button when the computer is on battery. |
| Select Lid Close Action On Battery | This policy setting specifies the action that Windows takes when a user closes the lid on a mobile PC. |
| Allow Hibernate (Windows Insiders Only) | This policy setting decides if hibernate on the machine is allowed or not. It’s available for Windows Insiders only. |
How to Configure Power Options using Intune
You can use the following steps to configure Power Options using Intune settings catalog.
- Sign in to Microsoft Intune Admin Center.
- Go to Devices > Configuration profiles.
- To create a new profile to configure power options for devices, select Create Profile.
On Create a Profile window, select the platform as Windows 10 and later. Select Profile type as Settings Catalog. Click Create.
On the Basics tab, specify the name of the profile as “Configure Power Options” or “Manage Power Options“. You can add a brief description about this profile, and it’s optional. Select Next to continue.
In order to select the power options, we have to first use the settings catalog. Click Add Settings.
On the Settings Picker window, type “Power” in the search box and click Search to see all the settings in this category.
When you select the Power category, the results include 13 power settings that you can select from. You can either select few power options or select all of them to configure.
Ideally, you must select the power settings that you want it to be applied to your devices. In the below example, I have selected all the settings just to show you the list of device power options that you can configure in Intune.
Out of 13 settings, configure power options using Intune that you require. Once you configure it, click Next.
On the Assignments tab, select the device groups to which you want to deploy this profile or power settings.
If you are deploying this profile for the first time, I recommend adding the test devices first. If the policy works or needs modification, you can do that and apply it to other groups.
Read: How to duplicate Intune Settings Catalog policy in Intune.
Click Next.
Adding scope tags is completely optional. With Scope Tags, you can assign a tag to filter the profile to specific IT groups. Click Next.
On Review + Create tab, review the settings that you have configured so far and click Create.
Shortly, a notification will appear automatically in the top right-hand corner with a message. Policy Created – Policy “Configure Power Options” created successfully.
The policy also appears in the list of Configuration Profiles.
After you deploy the profile, you can check Intune settings catalog profile report from Intune Portal. This report provides an overall view of device configuration policies deployment status.
The devices that were part of assignments will get the policy settings once they check in with the Intune service. You can force clients to sync with the policies from Intune. Based on the device power options that you have configured, the devices will receive the same settings. To confirm that power options are applied successfully, sign-in to the device. Select Start > Settings > System > Power & Sleep and verify the power settings.
Could you assign to user group instead?
Can you use this program to set different power settings for weekdays / weekends?
Hello. Do you know about how to set the timer to never? Is the value 0?