Power icon in taskbar

bsnowman17

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Dec 7, 2010
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I need a way to easily set my power options on my Desktop, i.e. the time it takes to go to sleep mode or screen saver ect. On my xp laptop I can left click on the battery in the taskbar and choose always on, presentation, ect. My desktop has Windows 7 x64, and I can't enable the power icon on the taskbar (Its grayed out in the "turn system icons on or off"). Is there any way to enable it or a shortcut to the power plan selections in Windows 7 on a desktop? Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Solution
Follow these steps to see how to create a shortcut to "Advanced Power Settings" in Windows 7:

1. Right-click on Desktop and select "New -> Shortcut":

2. It'll launch "Create Shortcut" wizard. Now enter following string in location box: control powercfg.cpl,,1

NOTE: You can use any integer after 2 commas (,,) for example, control powercfg.cpl,,3 or control powercfg.cpl,,23

3. After entering the location, click on "Next" button. Now type Advanced Power Settings in name box and click on "Finish" button. It'll create a new shortcut on Desktop.

4. Now its time to change the icon. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties". Click on "Change Icon" button. Type powercfg.cpl in text box and press Enter. Select the icon, click on...

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
Right click on the power icon. Select "turn system icons on or off". Set the power icon to "On". That should do the trick.

You could also go into Control Panel and right click on the Power Options icon and create a shortcut to put on your desktop.

Good luck!
 

bmathews

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May 21, 2010
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Follow these steps to see how to create a shortcut to "Advanced Power Settings" in Windows 7:

1. Right-click on Desktop and select "New -> Shortcut":

2. It'll launch "Create Shortcut" wizard. Now enter following string in location box: control powercfg.cpl,,1

NOTE: You can use any integer after 2 commas (,,) for example, control powercfg.cpl,,3 or control powercfg.cpl,,23

3. After entering the location, click on "Next" button. Now type Advanced Power Settings in name box and click on "Finish" button. It'll create a new shortcut on Desktop.

4. Now its time to change the icon. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties". Click on "Change Icon" button. Type powercfg.cpl in text box and press Enter. Select the icon, click on OK button and then Apply the changes.

5. That's it. You'll get the desired shortcut on Desktop.

Source: http://www.askvg.com/create-direct-shortcut-for-advanced-power-settings-in-windows-vista-and-7/

I hope this helps!

Brett M,
Windows Outreach Team
 
Solution

ActivityRick

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Aug 14, 2012
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My power icon selection button is black and cannot be turned on. Can anyone help me with this?? My laptop shuts off when the battery is low and there is no warning...I can't find a fix for this to save my life. Can Anyone help?????
 

boombaff

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Oct 11, 2012
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Just use this for your icons to reappear

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945011/en-us
 

djbis

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Apr 8, 2013
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I noticed that while I was troubleshooting an issue with my computer I had disabled the "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery" item in the device manager.

The behavior described in this post can be fixed by enabling this item again. Your Battery icon will return, and you will be able to customize it just like before.

Disabling this ACPI feature can sometimes be helpful if your system is being used for demanding work with audio/video. ACPI can sometimes cause latency/glitches due to a driver issue that constantly polls the battery.

I hope this helps somebody.
 
G

Guest

Guest



on my computer that wont work and i need a souloution the battery icon is disabled all together i think its been disabled in something similiar to gpedit so how do i get it enabled again