Monday, October 01, 2012

Windows 8 Start Screen: adding Shutdown / Restart / Sleep

One of very nice features of modern laptops (in particular ultrabooks)
is "instant on" when opening the screen/cover.

The same effect can be done on Windows desktops (8, 7)
by sending device to "sleep" mode. In that mode all modules are turned off
expect for memory, that is using very little power (1-2W).

To make this feature easy to use, a convenient icon can be added to start page, menu or desktop.

How to Add Shutdown / Restart / Sleep to the Windows 8 Metro Start Screen - How-To Geek

Essentially, adding shortcuts to start menu.

Windows 7 start menu is included to Windows 8 modern start "tiles"


C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Shutdown: shutdown.exe -s -t 00
Restart: shutdown.exe -r -t 00
Lock: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Hibernate: rundll32.exe powrProf.dll,SetSuspendState
Sleep: rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

To make sleep effective (quick to start), need to turn off hibernate.
That is done from command prompt (with admin rights), with command:
> powercfg -hibernate off

Here is a discussion on a forum about this.