# Windows power management question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-power-management-question/356534>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 12, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-power-management-question/356534 "2006-05-12T17:16:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-power-management-question/356534/1 "2006-05-12T17:16:03Z")

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To put it simply - what does Windows use for Power Management settings when no one is logged on?

I have a machine that I’m using a server (Windows XP, SP2). It puts itself to sleep after a while, and I can’t figure out how to stop it. When you’re logged on as a user, you can, of course, go into the power management control applet and set it to not hibernate etc. – but since it’s a server, I don’t want to have someone logged on.

So, when Windows XP is just sitting there at the logon screen, where does it look for its power mangement settings?

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**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-power-management-question/356534/2 "2006-05-12T18:01:49Z")

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I ran into this same problem a year or so ago; XP uses the Default User profile when no one is logged on. The fix involves copying the settings from a registry key in your user profile to the Default User profile.

You can fix this without too much trouble, but I don’t remember the procedure or locations of the data in the registry, so Google away.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-power-management-question/356534/3 "2006-05-12T19:46:00Z")

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Thank you, **Jake4**! That’s exactly what I needed. I guess my Google-fu wasn’t working well when I posted, but with your suggestion I was able to locate [this](http://www.theeldergeek.com/power_schemes.htm). I’ll give it a try and see if it works.