How to change Power Plan in Windows 10 with Powershell and revert after long script to original settings?

Question

How can I make a PowerShell script to check the current Power plan, change it to "High performance" (if it's not already), then run a long PowerShell script, then after the script, switch back to the original power plan?

I came up with something like this, but it feels like the -and statements fail to work, or am I doing something terribly wrong?

I got the following at this moment:

$PowerSettingsorg = Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2\power -Class win32_powerplan
$PowerSettings = Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2\power -Class win32_powerplan


If ($PowerSettings.IsActive -eq $True -And $PowerSettings.ElementName -eq 'Hoge prestaties') 
{ 
write-host "++ Power Plan Settings are correct.!" 
}

Else {
$hpPlan = Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2\power -Class win32_powerplan | Where-Object { $_.ElementName -eq 'Hoge prestaties' } 
$hpPlan.Activate()
write-host "++ Power plan Settings are changed to High Performance.!"
}

<Long Script here>


If ($PowerSettingsorg.IsActive -eq 'true' -and $PowerSettingsorg.ElementName -eq 'Gebalanceerd')
{
$orgPlan = Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\cimv2\power -Class win32_powerplan | Where-Object { $_.ElementName -eq 'Gebalanceerd' } 
$orgPlan.Activate()
write-host "++ Power plan Settings have been reverted to Belanced.!"
}
Else {
write-host "++ No Power Plan settings have been reverted.!"
}

Answer 1

In Windows 10, the Activate() method on the COM object does not work anymore, giving you error message Exception calling "Activate" : "This method is not implemented in any class ".

To manipulate the power scheme settings you will have to make use of PowerCfg.exe:

# fill a hashtable with power scheme guids and alias names:

# Name                                   Value
# -----                                  -----
# 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e   SCHEME_BALANCED  # --> Balanced
# 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c   SCHEME_MIN       # --> High performance
# a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a   SCHEME_MAX       # --> Power saver

$powerConstants = @{}
PowerCfg.exe -ALIASES | Where-Object { $_ -match 'SCHEME_' } | ForEach-Object {
    $guid,$alias = ($_ -split '\s+', 2).Trim()
    $powerConstants[$guid] = $alias
}

# get a list of power schemes
$powerSchemes = PowerCfg.exe -LIST | Where-Object { $_ -match '^Power Scheme' } | ForEach-Object {
    $guid = $_ -replace '.*GUID:\s*([-a-f0-9]+).*', '$1'
    [PsCustomObject]@{
        Name     = $_.Trim("* ") -replace '.*\(([^)]+)\)$', '$1'          # LOCALIZED !
        Alias    = $powerConstants[$guid]
        Guid     = $guid
        IsActive = $_ -match '\*$'
    }
}

# set a variable for the desired power scheme (in this case High performance)
$desiredScheme = $powerSchemes | Where-Object { $_.Alias -eq 'SCHEME_MIN' }

# get the currently active scheme
$PowerSettingsorg = $powerSchemes | Where-Object { $_.IsActive }

if ($PowerSettingsorg.Alias -eq $desiredScheme.Alias) {
    # or by guid:   if ($PowerSettingsorg.Guid -eq $desiredScheme.Guid)
    # or localized: if ($PowerSettingsorg.Name -eq $desiredScheme.Name)
    # or:           if ($desiredScheme.IsActive)
    Write-Host "++ Power Plan Settings are correct.! ($($PowerSettingsorg.Name))"
}
else {
    # set powersettings to High Performance
    Powercfg.exe -SETACTIVE $desiredScheme.Alias  # you can also set this using the $desiredScheme.Guid
    # test if the setting has changed
    $currentPowerGuid = (Powercfg.exe -GETACTIVESCHEME) -replace '.*GUID:\s*([-a-f0-9]+).*', '$1'
    if ($currentPowerGuid -eq $desiredScheme.Guid) {
        Write-Host "++ Power plan Settings have changed to $($desiredScheme.Name).!"
    }
    else {
        # exit the script here???
        Throw "++ Power plan Settings did not change to $($desiredScheme.Name).!"
    }
}

### <Long Script here> ###


# get the current power scheme and test if it needs to be reverted
if ($currentPowerGuid -ne $PowerSettingsorg.Guid) {
    # set powersettings to the original scheme
    Powercfg.exe -SETACTIVE $PowerSettingsorg.Alias  # you can also set this using the $PowerSettingsorg.Guid
    # test if the setting has changed
    $currentPowerGuid = (Powercfg.exe -GETACTIVESCHEME) -replace '.*GUID:\s*([-a-f0-9]+).*', '$1'
    if ($currentPowerGuid -eq $PowerSettingsorg.Guid) {
        Write-Host "++ Power plan Settings have been reverted to $($PowerSettingsorg.Name).!"
    }
    else {
        # exit the script here???
        Throw "++ Power plan Settings did not revert to $($PowerSettingsorg.Name).!"
    }
}
else {
    Write-Host "++ Power Plan settings did not need to be reverted.!"
}