Microsoft Assessment Configuration Pack for
ENERGY STAR Power Management
Contents
1
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 2
2
CONFIGURATION BASELINE REFERENCE ....................................................................... 3
3
CONFIGURATION ITEM REFERENCE ................................................................................. 4
3.1
3.2
3.3
ENERGY STAR GUIDELINE: W INDOWS VISTA ..................................................................... 4
ENERGY STAR GUIDELINE: W INDOWS XP ......................................................................... 5
ENERGY STAR RECOMMENDATION: DISABLE SCREEN SAVER ............................................ 6
4
REMEDIATION ....................................................................................................................... 8
5
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 9
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
ENERGY GUIDANCE ............................................................................................................. 9
POWERCFG AND SCRIPT DETAILS ........................................................................................ 9
LAPTOPS VS. W ORKSTATIONS ............................................................................................ 10
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 10
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PAGE 1 OF 10
1
Introduction
ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
U.S. Department of Energy that helps save money and protect the environment through
energy efficient products and practices. The ENERGY STAR guidelines for computers
cover both the hardware devices and the power management features expected of the
operating system and applications. Windows Vista offers a rich set of power management
features, from high-level options, such as sleep and hibernation modes to detailed
configurations, such as control of CPU power consumption.
You can manage workstation power settings by using a variety of methods. Windows
Group Policy is the primary configuration method for enterprise environments, but its
primary use is to set a defined value rather than report the current configuration value. In
comparison, the desired configuration management feature in System Center
Configuration Manager 2007 reports configuration compliance against a baseline standard
definition.
The ENERGY STAR program specifies criteria for hardware manufacturers to achieve
defined efficiency levels with recommendations for computer power management settings.
Although the ENERGY STAR requirements are primarily targeted at hardware
manufacturers to specify minimum efficiency ratings, there are also guidelines for
computer software. These guidelines cover two main categories of operation: display low
power mode and system hibernation
This Configuration Pack uses these defined efficiency levels and recommendations as
follows:

Have computers enter system standby or hibernate after 30 to 60 minutes of
inactivity.

Have monitors enter sleep mode after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity.

Create a warning notification if screen savers are not disabled. If one is enabled,
the wait timeout period should be less than the monitor sleep setting.
Because the ENERGY STAR specifications do not include server configurations, this
Configuration Pack applies only to desktop and notebook computers that are running
Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems. On laptops, the Configuration Pack
will create an additional warning notification if these settings exceed the maximum
allowed value in DC (battery power) profiles.
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2
Configuration Baseline Reference
Configuration Baseline Name
ENERGY STAR Baseline
Required General Configuration Items
ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows Vista
ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows XP
ENERGY STAR Recommendation: Disable Screen Saver
For more information about configuration baselines, and configuration baseline rules, refer
to the topic About Configuration Baselines in Desired Configuration Management
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121708) from the Configuration Manager
documentation library.
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3
Configuration Item Reference
Following are the details about the configuration items contained within the ENERGY STAR Baseline.
3.1
ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows Vista
Configuration Item Details: ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows Vista
Configuration Item Type
General
Settings: ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows Vista
Setting Name
Data Type
Validation
Setting Type
More Information
Hibernation – AC Mode
Integer
Multiple Rules
Script
The Tier 1 requirement is that computers enter into a
sleep mode within 30 minutes of inactivity. For the
purpose of this Configuration Pack the constraint on
this behavior follows the general guideline of greater
than 30 minutes but less than 60. To implement the
required logic, the configuration item implements two
separate validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement,
refer to the specification for ENERGY STAR Program
Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
Setting Name
Data Type
Validation
Setting Type
More Information
Hibernation – DC Mode
Integer
Multiple rules
Script
The Tier 1 requirement is that computers enter into a
sleep mode within 30 minutes of inactivity. For the
purpose of this Configuration Pack the constraint on
this behavior follows the general guideline of greater
than 30 minutes but less than 60. To implement the
required logic, the configuration item implements two
separate validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement,
refer to the specification for ENERGY STAR Program
Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
Setting Name
Data Type
Validation
Setting Type
More Information
Monitor Sleep – AC Mode
Integer
Multiple rules
Script
The Tier 1 requirement for computers is that the
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PAGE 4 OF 10
monitor enters into a sleep mode within 15 minutes of
inactivity. The Configuration Pack follows the
ENERGY STAR general guideline of greater than 5
minutes but less than 20 minutes by implementing
two separate validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement,
refer to the specification for ENERGY STAR Program
Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
Setting Name
Data Type
Monitor Sleep – DC Mode
Integer
Validation
Multiple rules
Setting Type
More Information
Script
The Tier 1 requirement for computers is that the
monitor enters into a sleep mode within 15 minutes of
inactivity. The Configuration Pack follows the
ENERGY STAR general guideline of greater than 5
minutes but less than 20 minutes by implementing
two separate validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement,
refer to the specification for ENERGY STAR Program
Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
3.2
ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows XP
Configuration Item Details: ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows XP
Configuration Item Type
General
Settings: ENERGY STAR Guideline: Windows XP
Setting Name
Hibernation – AC Mode
Data Type
Integer
Validation
Multiple Rules
Setting Type
Script
More Information
The Tier 1 requirement is that computers enter into a
sleep mode within 30 minutes of inactivity. For the
purpose of this Configuration Pack the constraint on this
behavior follows the general guideline of greater than
30 minutes but less than 60. To implement the required
logic, the configuration item implements two separate
validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement,
refer to the specification for ENERGY STAR
Program Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
Setting Name
Data Type
Validation
Hibernation – DC Mode
Integer
Multiple rules
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PAGE 5 OF 10
Setting Type
More Information
Script
The Tier 1 requirement is that computers enter into a
sleep mode within 30 minutes of inactivity. For the
purpose of this Configuration Pack the constraint on this
behavior follows the general guideline of greater than
30 minutes but less than 60. To implement the required
logic, the configuration item implements two separate
validation rules: <> and != 0.
For more information about the Tier 1 requirement refer
to the specification for ENERGY STAR Program
Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
Setting Name
Data Type
Integer
Validation
Multiple rules
Setting Type
More Information
Setting Name
Data Type
Script
The Tier 1 requirement for computers is that the monitor
enters into a sleep mode within 15 minutes of inactivity.
The Configuration Pack follows the ENERGY STAR
general guideline of greater than 5 minutes but less
than 20 minutes by implementing two separate
validation rules: <> and != 0.
Monitor Sleep – DC Mode
Integer
Validation
Multiple rules
Setting Type
More Information
3.3
Monitor Sleep – AC Mode
Script
The Tier 1 requirement for computers is that the monitor
enters into a sleep mode within 15 minutes of inactivity.
The Configuration Pack follows the ENERGY STAR
general guideline of greater than 5 minutes but less
than 20 minutes by implementing two separate
validation rules: <> and != 0.
ENERGY STAR Recommendation: Disable Screen Saver
Configuration Item Details: ENERGY STAR Recommendation: Disable Screen Saver
Configuration Item Type
General
Settings: ENERGY STAR Recommendation: Disable Screen Saver
Setting Name
Disable Logon Screen Saver
Data Type
String
Validation
Equals 0
Setting Type
Registry
Location
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop
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PAGE 6 OF 10
Value Name
More Information
ScreenSaveActive
Screen savers do not save energy and often
prevent monitors from entering sleep mode. As a
result, you will conserve more energy if screen
savers are disabled. This configuration item
produces a warning if the screen saver is not
disabled. If you do use a screen saver with monitor
power management, you must manually check that
the screen-saver wait period is set to less than the
period of time after which the monitor enters sleep
mode.
The standard screen saver settings are stored in
per-user locations within the Registry.
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT represents both the
default screen saver settings for a computer, and
the settings to use when there is no user logged
into a computer.
Setting Name
Data Type
Validation
Setting Type
Location
Value Name
More Information
Disable User Screen Saver
String
Equals 0
Registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
ScreenSaveActive
The standard screen saver settings are stored in
per-user locations within the Registry. This checks
the compliance of the settings in the current user
hives. Desired configuration management
automatically checks the setting for all users on a
target computer when using
HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
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PAGE 7 OF 10
4
Remediation
The PowerCfg utility offers some options for exporting and importing power
management settings. For the purpose of remediation, you can export the settings
from a computer that is configured correctly and save those to a file. The import
process can be performed on the computers that report non-compliance. This can be
done manually or by using software distribution in Configuration Manager.
For more details about controlling power management settings and using the
PowerCfg utility, refer to the white paper Power Policy Configuration and Deployment
in Windows Vista (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121716).
Ensure that you test any remediation process first in a lab, and then in a pilot
environment in order to confirm that compliance is successful without causing any
negative side effects.
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PAGE 8 OF 10
5
5.1
Additional Information
Energy Guidance
Changes to how a computer enters sleep or hibernation mode can interact with other
management processes, such as software updates. As a result the changes should be
tested in a lab environment prior to production deployment.
There are a number of ways to ensure that sleep settings do not interfere with the
distribution of administrative software updates, including:

Configuring client computers to apply software updates as soon as computers are
connected on the network.

Using Windows Task Scheduler to wake up computers to install software updates.
Scripts that are deployed using Windows Group Policy allow you to centrally manage
these scheduled tasks. For more information, see Using Windows Task Scheduler to
facilitate software updates (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121717).

Using Wake-on-LAN technology, to wake up computers in sleep mode at any time to
perform on-demand software updates.
For more information on these options see Implementation resources for
enterpriseshttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122327
5.2
PowerCfg and Script Details
The PowerCfg.exe utility is referenced by the scripts in this Configuration Pack to query a
computer’s power configuration.
The power management features of Windows Vista significantly extend those provided in
Windows XP. Additionally, the configuration store location and format changed between
the two platforms. The PowerCfg utility ships with Windows XP and Windows Vista, and it
is recommended for managing computer power configuration.
The PowerCfg utility is primarily text-based. The Windows XP PowerCfg utility is different
than the Windows Vista PowerCfg utility.
On Windows XP, the primary power settings have three different classes of values. “Not
Supported” refers to lack of hardware support for the particular feature. “Never” specifies
that a feature is disabled. “After <x> mins” declares the number of minutes before
standby, hibernate, monitor sleep, etc. Parsing the output of PowerCfg requires
understanding these three values. The script output only returns numerical results: 0 (for
Not Supported), -1 (for Never / Disabled), and <x> (representing a number of minutes).
On Windows Vista, power settings are potentially more complex than the power settings in
Windows XP, but are stored similarly. The units of time are stored separately and are in
seconds rather than minutes. 0 is used for “Never” and disabled settings, as a result the
script returns numerical results directly.
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PAGE 9 OF 10
5.3
Laptops vs. Workstations
ENERGY STAR does not specify power settings for laptops that are using battery - DC
power mode. However this Configuration Pack warns administrators if DC power settings
exceed the maximums specified by the AC power mode settings.
Note: Unsupported hardware will return a value of 0. This value will fail validation. The
default configuration items indicate that a ==0 validation failure is a warning, a <>
validation failure is an error.
5.4
References
For more information about the ENERGY STAR guidance for computers, see the
following:
ENERGY STAR Power Management Web site
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121719).
Energy Star Program Requirements for Computers
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121712).
For additional information about troubleshooting desired configuration management,
refer to the desired configuration management troubleshooting section in the
Configuration Manager documentation library
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121722) and the Microsoft Help and Support
Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119790).
For questions or comments about this Configuration Pack, send e-mail to
cfgpacks@microsoft.com.
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