How Do I Switch Power Plans With a Keyboard Shortcut?

Windows has no built-in setting for "press these keys to change the power plan," but you can build one yourself: make a desktop shortcut that runs the command for switching plans, then give that shortcut a shortcut key. You don't need to install anything. PowerDoze also has keyboard shortcuts, which is a different way to do it. We'll cover both so you can pick the one that fits.

Does Windows have a built-in hotkey for switching power plans?

No. To switch power plans from the keyboard, you need powercfg, a command-line program that ships with Windows (you run it by typing in a command window). One line of powercfg switches the power plan. Put that line in a shortcut, give the shortcut a key combination, and you have a key that switches plans when you press it.

This post is about the power plans in Control Panel, not the Power mode drop-down in Windows 11 Settings. For how power plans differ from the Power mode drop-down, see this post.

How do I make a shortcut that switches to High performance?

1. Right-click an empty spot on the desktop and choose New > Shortcut.
2. The first page of the wizard has a field labeled "Type the location of the item:". Enter powercfg /setactive SCHEME_MIN there, then move on to the next page.
3. The next page asks you to "Type a name for this shortcut:". Pick a name you'll recognize, such as High performance.
4. The page says "Click Finish to create the shortcut." Do that, and the shortcut appears on your desktop.

Double-click the shortcut and it runs that command, switching your power plan to High performance. SCHEME_MIN is an alias, a short name powercfg gives the High performance plan. Microsoft's documentation says an alias can stand in for a plan's ID in any command. The name is easy to read backwards: MIN means "the least power saving," which is why it's High performance. The Power saver plan's alias is SCHEME_MAX.

Which command goes in for Balanced, Power saver, or a custom plan?

Follow the same steps to make more shortcuts, changing only the command in the location field. One shortcut per plan:

A plan you created yourself has no alias, so you need its GUID. A GUID is the string of letters and numbers Windows uses to tell each power plan apart. To find it, open Command Prompt or PowerShell and run powercfg /list. Each line shows a plan's GUID followed by its name in parentheses, and the plan you're using right now has a * at the end of its line. Find the line for your custom plan, copy the GUID, and put it after powercfg /setactive.

How do I give the shortcut a key combination?

1. Right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, and open the Shortcut tab. The "Target:" field shows the command you just entered.
2. Click in the "Shortcut key:" field and press a letter, for example H. Windows turns it into Ctrl + Alt + H.
3. To make the command window less noticeable, change the "Run:" drop-down from Normal window to Minimized (the other choice is Maximized).
4. Save the change and close the window. From now on, pressing Ctrl + Alt + H runs this shortcut.

Give each plan's shortcut its own letter, say H for High performance, B for Balanced and S for Power saver. Press one before a game, and another before a meeting.

What are the limits of a homemade shortcut?

• The shortcut has to live on the desktop or in the Start menu. Microsoft's Windows XP support article 310417 (an archived copy; last reviewed in 2005) says the feature works only with program shortcuts on the desktop or the Start menu; move the shortcut to another folder and the key stops working. We couldn't find newer official documentation confirming whether Windows 11 behaves exactly the same way.
• One plan means one shortcut and one key combination. If you use three plans, you have three combinations to remember.
• Nothing on screen tells you which plan you're on after you press it. To check, run powercfg /getactivescheme in Command Prompt or PowerShell; the name in parentheses is your current plan. We ran this one on our own PC.
• A black command window may flash on screen. That's because powercfg is a command-line program. Setting Run to Minimized may make it less noticeable.
• A work or school PC may not let you switch. By default Windows lets standard users switch power plans, but an administrator can lock that down with Group Policy.

How do PowerDoze's shortcuts work, and how are they different?

In the Microsoft Store version of PowerDoze (2.4.0 and later), the settings page has a Keyboard shortcuts card, and it's free for everyone. The first row is "Switch to next mode," followed by one row for each of your PowerDoze power modes, built-in and custom. Every row starts out as "Not set." Pick a row, press "Set," press the keys you want, then press "OK" to save. If you got it wrong, "Record again" lets you choose a different one.

The combination has to include Ctrl, Alt or Win, and Shift is optional. A single key, or Shift plus a key, isn't allowed, because you'd no longer be able to type that key normally. If the combination you pick is already used by another program or by Windows, PowerDoze tells you right away and asks you to choose a different one.

Compared with a homemade shortcut, here's what's different:

• One combination can cycle through your modes. Set up "Switch to next mode," and each press moves to the next mode in your mode list, wrapping back to the first after the last. You don't need a separate combination for every plan.
• Pressing a shortcut is a regular manual switch, not a temporary one. It does the same thing as picking a mode from the tray menu. If what you want is "switch now, and switch back automatically when time's up," that's a different PowerDoze feature; see this post.
• If you use a schedule, the two work together. Manual switches follow the "Return to the schedule after a manual switch" setting. It's on by default: when the next time slot in your schedule starts, the mode you switched to by hand ends and the schedule takes over. Turn it off and your manual choice stays. For setting up a schedule, see this post.
• It still changes the Windows power plan. When PowerDoze switches one of its power modes, it changes the Windows power plan and leaves the Windows power mode alone. The built-in High performance mode uses the Windows High performance plan; custom modes use plans copied from Balanced. More on custom power modes here.
• PowerDoze needs to be running. When PowerDoze isn't running (for example, after you choose Exit in its tray menu), the shortcuts don't work.

If you only reach for High performance when your CPU is busy, PowerDoze can also switch to High performance automatically when the CPU is busy; here's how.

What we can't confirm yet

• We have not actually run the command that switches plans (powercfg /setactive) on a test PC, because the author's PC can't have its power settings changed. We did run powercfg /list and powercfg /getactivescheme, which only read settings and don't change anything.
• Windows adding Ctrl + Alt when you press a letter in the shortcut key field is long-standing Windows behavior, but we haven't pressed it on this PC.
• The rule that shortcut keys only work on the desktop and in the Start menu comes from an old Microsoft support article for Windows XP (KB 310417). We couldn't find newer documentation for Windows 11.
• PowerDoze's shortcuts are designed to keep working while the app is minimized to the tray, but we haven't confirmed that on a real machine yet.
• What this post says about PowerDoze comes from reading its code. We haven't checked every item by hand in the app.

Frequently asked questions

Why is High performance called SCHEME_MIN and not SCHEME_MAX?

MIN and MAX describe how much power is saved. SCHEME_MIN saves the least, so it's High performance; SCHEME_MAX saves the most, so it's Power saver.

On a work or school PC, my shortcut doesn't switch the plan. Did I set it up wrong?

Not necessarily. By default Windows lets standard users switch power plans, but an administrator at your company or school can lock that down with Group Policy.

After switching to High performance, why can't I change the power mode in Settings anymore?

According to Microsoft's documentation, only Balanced, or a plan copied from Balanced, lets you adjust the Windows power mode. With High performance active, Settings tells you the power mode is set automatically.

Can a PowerDoze shortcut be a single key?

No. The combination has to include Ctrl, Alt or Win. A single key, or Shift plus a key, would stop you from typing that key normally.

The limits of this post

If you only switch between two or three plans and don't mind not seeing which one is active, a desktop shortcut with a shortcut key is enough. It's free and needs no extra software. In that case, you don't need us. Where PowerDoze helps is when you want one combination that cycles through your modes, or you want manual switches to work together with a schedule.

Don't want to remember a separate Ctrl + Alt combination for every plan? Set up "Switch to next mode" in PowerDoze's settings, and one combination cycles through your power modes.