Add Switch Power Plan context menu to Desktop in Windows 10

Windows 10 comes with a new UI again to change the operating system's power related options. The classic Control Panel is losing its features and probably will be replaced by the Settings app. The Settings app has already got many settings which were exclusively available in the Control Panel. The battery notification area icon in the Windows 10 system tray was also replaced with a new Modern UI. If you want to switch power plans quickly, there is no way yet. So instead, you can add the appropriate options to change the power plan to the desktop context menu. It will provide you the ability to switch the power plan with one click in Windows 10.

There is a powercfg.exe console utility which exists in Windows since Windows XP. Using the options provided by that app it is possible to manage various power settings of the operating system. For example, the following command can be used to disable hibernation:

powercfg -h off

It is possible to use this command to switch the current power plan. First, we need to get the list of available power profiles. This can be done with the following command:

powercfg /L

It produces the following output:In the screenshot above, you can see that every power scheme in Windows has its own GUID. That GUID can be used to switch the power scheme from the command line. For example, to set the high performance power plan, you need to execute the following command:

powercfg /S 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

The "/S" option stands for "set active" command and takes the power plan GUID as its argument.

Using this information, it is possible to add the powercfg command into the Desktop context menu in Windows 10 to get the following menu:

You need to merge the following Registry file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Created by https://winaero.com

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan]
"Icon"="powercpl.dll"
"MUIVerb"="Switch Power Plan"
"Position"="Top"
"SubCommands"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\Balanced]
"MUIVerb"="Balanced"
"Icon"="powercpl.dll"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\Balanced\Command]
@="powercfg.exe /S 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\High Performance]
"MUIVerb"="High Performance"
"Icon"="powercpl.dll"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\High Performance\Command]
@="powercfg.exe /S 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\Power Saver]
"MUIVerb"="Power Saver"
"Icon"="powercpl.dll"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Switch Power Plan\Shell\Power Saver\Command]
@="powercfg.exe /S a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a"

So, using this menu you will be able to switch the power plan quickly without opening the Settings app.

The same can be done using Winaero Tweaker. Go to Context Menu -> Power Plan Menu:
Use this option to avoid Registry editing.

Also, I made ready-to-use Registry files so you can apply the tweak without manual Registry editing.

Download Registry Tweak

That's it. The Undo file is included to revert the changes to the Desktop context menu.

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