This deployment guide will provide instructions and solutions for working with Power Manager. If ® you have suggestions or comments, communicate with your Lenovo authorized representative. To learn more about the technologies that can help you lower the total cost of ownership and to check for periodic updates to this guide, go to the following Web site: http://www.lenovo.com/thinkvantage...
Page 8
(in poor condition). When the battery has encountered an error, an error message or balloon message will display in the notification area. • Maximize battery life span If you primarily use the computer with an attached ac power adapter and only infrequently use battery power, you can increase the life span of the battery by changing the charge thresholds.
Page 10
5. Make sure that you have selected the Install ThinkVantage Power Manager now option and click Finish. 6. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete installation and restart the computer. Note: Power Manager has two different versions. One is for Windows XP operating systems and the other is for Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.
Lenovo provides Power Manager ADM or ADMX files for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 client computers, with five categories of policy settings: General Setting, Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments, Global Power Settings, Battery Maintenance, and Power Agenda Deployments.
Under User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates and navigate to Classic Administrative Templates. A new item named Lenovo ThinkVantage Components is present. d. Expand Lenovo ThinkVantage Components. A sub-item named Power Manager for Vista/7 is present. To add the Power Manager ADMX files to the Group Policy Editor, do the following: 1.
Page 13
Table 1. General Setting Policy settings Description Do not allow client to switch power plan Specifies whether to allow switching power plan on client computers. If this policy setting is enabled and users change the power plan, Power Manager will automatically change the current power plan back to the original power plan.
To configure the Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments policies, do the following: • For Windows XP client computers (ADM and ADMX files) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager ➙ Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADM file)
Page 15
Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Classic Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager for Vista/7 ➙ Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADMX file) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙...
Page 16
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description performance type, the Maximum CPU Speed setting and Intel Graphics Power Plan setting will be overwritten. System Performance (DC) Specifies the system performance type. Possible system performance types includes: • Maximum turbo •...
Page 17
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Display Brightness 8 (DC) Specifies the brightness level of client computer displays with 8 brightness levels. Switchable Graphics (AC) Specifies the graphics mode of the NVIDIA switchable graphics. Possible graphics modes include: •...
Page 18
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Automatic optical drive power off (AC) Specifies whether to automatically turn off the optical drive when the following conditions are met: • System has started but no CD or DVD has been inserted within 10 minutes.
Page 19
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description • 15 minutes • 20 minutes • 25 minutes • 30 minutes • 45 minutes • Never Note: This setting is not supported in AC mode and it is not supported on Windows 7 client computers. Dim display (AC) Specifies the period of inactivity before Windows automatically reduces the display brightness and the...
Page 20
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Switch to Energy Saving Graphics (AC) Specifies the period of inactivity before switching to energy saving graphics. Possible time periods include: • 2 minutes • 5 minutes • 10 minutes •...
Page 21
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Monitor off Timer (AC) Specifies the period of inactivity before the Windows operating system turns off the display. For Windows XP client computers, possible time periods include: • 1 minute •...
Page 22
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description • 4 hours • 5 hours • Never For Windows Vista and Windows 7 client computers, you can specify the value in seconds. If you specify the value as 0 second, the Monitor off Timer will be set to Never.
Page 23
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description • 2 hours • 3 hours • 4 hours • 5 hours • Never For Windows Vista and Windows 7 client computers, you can specify the value in seconds. If you specify the value as 0 second, the HDD off Timer will be set to Never.
Page 24
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Standby Timer (DC) Specifies the period of inactivity before Windows enters the sleep mode. For Windows XP client computers, possible time periods include: • 1 minute • 2 minutes • 3 minutes •...
Page 25
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description • 5 hours • 6 hours • Never Note: The period should be longer than the period of inactivity specified in the Standby Timer setting on Windows XP client computers. For Windows Vista and Windows 7 client computers, you can specify the value in seconds.
Page 26
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Allow Hybrid Sleep (AC) Enables Hybrid Sleep. If you enable this policy setting and select On, a file called hiberfil.sys is generated to store the contents of RAM (Random Access Memory) when the system enters sleep (Stand by) mode.
Page 27
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Wireless Power Saving Mode (DC) Specifies the performance of wireless adapters. Possible performances include: • Maximum Performance • Low Power Saving • Medium Power Saving • Maximum Power Saving This setting is not supported on Windows XP client computers.
Page 28
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description ® Multimedia settings when playing video (AC) Specifies whether Windows Media Player favors power saving or performance when playing video content. Possible values include: • Optimize video quality • Balanced •...
Page 29
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Search and indexing (AC) Specifies the search speed and performance of indexing. Possible values include: • Power Saver • Balanced • High Performance This setting is supported only on Windows Vista client computers.
Page 30
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Slide show (DC) Specifies the behavior of the desktop background slide show. Possible values include: • Available • Paused This setting is supported only on Windows 7 client computers. System cooling policy (AC) Specifies Windows thermal behavior on systems that support active cooling features.
Page 31
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Power button (AC) Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when a user presses the power button on the computer. Possible actions include: • Do nothing • Sleep •...
Page 32
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Start menu power button (AC) Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when a user selects the power button from the Start menu. Possible actions include: • Sleep •...
Page 33
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Low battery alarm notification (AC) Enables a user notification when the battery capacity remaining equals the low battery alarm level. If you enable this policy setting and select On, the Windows operating system will show a notification when the battery capacity remaining equals the low battery alarm level.
Page 34
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Low battery action (DC) Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when battery capacity reaches the low battery alarm level. Possible actions include: • Do nothing • Sleep •...
Table 2. Power Plan (Scheme) Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description Critical battery alarm level (DC) Specifies the percentage of battery capacity remaining that triggers the critical battery alarm action. If you enable this policy setting, you must enter a numeric value (percentage) to set the battery level that triggers the critical notification.
Page 36
• For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADM file) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Classic Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager for Vista/7 ➙ Global Power Setting. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADMX file) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙...
Page 37
Table 3. Global Power Setting (continued) Policy settings Description Always On USB Specifies whether to supply the USB power when the computer is in standby mode, in hibernation mode, or turned off. Possible modes include: ® • iPod or iPhone™ digital devices ®...
Page 38
Table 3. Global Power Setting (continued) Policy settings Description Power Management CPU Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when there is no system activity for a specified interval. Possible actions include: • Automatic • Disabled If you select Automatic, then when there is no system activity for a specified interval, the power-saving function is enabled and the microprocessor clock will be stopped automatically.
Page 39
Table 3. Global Power Setting (continued) Policy settings Description Start menu power button Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when a user selects the power button from the Start menu. Possible actions include: • Sleep • Hibernate •...
Page 40
Table 3. Global Power Setting (continued) Policy settings Description Low battery action Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when battery capacity reaches the low battery alarm level. For Windows XP client computers, possible actions include: • No action •...
Page 41
Table 3. Global Power Setting (continued) Policy settings Description Critical battery alarm action Specifies the action that the Windows operating system takes when battery capacity reaches the critical battery alarm level. For Windows XP client computers, possible actions include: • No action •...
• For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADM file) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Classic Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager for Vista/7 ➙ Battery Maintenance. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADMX file) Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙...
• For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADM file) Under User Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Classic Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager for Vista/7 ➙ Power Agenda Deployments. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADMX file) Under User Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙...
Page 44
Table 5. Power Agenda Deployments (continued) Policy settings Description If you disable this policy setting, the Edit button is unavailable and users cannot edit the selected power agendas. Note: To allow users of client computers to edit a power agenda, you also should enable the Configurable policy setting for this power agenda.
Page 45
• For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADM file) Under User Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙ Classic Administrative Templates ➙ Lenovo ThinkVantage Components ➙ Power Manager for Vista/7 ➙ Power Agenda Deployments ➙ Power Agenda*. • For Windows Vista or Windows 7 client computers (ADMX file) Under User Configuration, click Administrative Templates ➙...
Page 46
Table 6. Power Agenda* (continued) Policy settings Description Name Specifies the name of the power agenda to be deployed to client computers. If you enable this policy setting, you can input a specific name or leave it blank for this power agenda. Note: The name should contain no more than 32 single-byte characters or 16 double-byte characters.
Page 47
Table 6. Power Agenda* (continued) Policy settings Description – Idle Timer policy setting – Time policy setting • Shut down – Time policy setting • Set monitor brightness – ThinkPad LCD Brightness policy setting – External monitor brightness policy setting (Windows Vista/7 only) –...
Page 48
Table 6. Power Agenda* (continued) Policy settings Description Power Plan (For Windows Vista/7) or Switch to a Power Scheme (For Windows XP), users cannot use this power agenda on client computers. See the action policy setting in Table 6 “Power Agenda*” on page 39.
Page 49
Table 6. Power Agenda* (continued) Policy settings Description 1. The range of the brightness level is from 0 to 100. The external monitor brightness increases when you select a higher brightness level. This policy setting does not support monitors with a brightness level higher than 100.
Page 50
Table 6. Power Agenda* (continued) Policy settings Description Peak power scheduler - time Specifies when the Peak power scheduler setting is effective. If you set the Action policy setting to Peak power scheduler, you should enable this policy setting. The Peak power scheduler setting is enabled only during the period specified in this policy setting.
Page 52
• MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folder\PowerCfg • USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\PowerCfg Notes: 1. Non-administrator groups or users on Windows XP client computers must have the write permission for the following registry subkeys: • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls Folder\PowerCfg • HKEY_ USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\PowerCfg 2. For further information on how to use the powercfg.exe utility for power schemes in Windows XP operating systems, refer to the Web site at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/915160 After completing the configuration, the non-administrator group or user in the Windows XP client computers...
Lenovo representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to a Lenovo product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that Lenovo product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any Lenovo intellectual property right may be used instead.
Trademarks The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both: Access Connections Lenovo ThinkPad ThinkVantage Microsoft, Active Directory, Windows, Windows Media, and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.