PC Training & Consulting Weblog

Reduce the steps required to shutdown, hibernate, sleep or restart Windows 8. Do either of the two items below, or both if you want more ways to do this.

• Configure your power button
• Create a desktop shortcut to run the shutdown command, then pin that shortcut to the Start screen

Configure your power button

1. On the Start screen, type power. Select Settings in the Search panel.

Note: Instead, you can go directly to Settings by pressing Win+W, then typing power.

2. In the Search results, select Change What the Power Buttons Do.

3. On the Power buttons screen, next to When I Press the Power button, select the function you want performed:

• Do Nothing
• Sleep: The computer enters a low power state but remains on and will resume function quickly.
• Hibernate: The computer turns off. When you restart, all apps that were running resume running.
• Shutdown: The computer turns off. Running apps will close and will not resume automatically when you restart.

Notes: Hibernate and Shutdown both save more power than does sleep. You may have separate options for plugged-in vs battery (if you have a laptop / tablet).You may have separate functions for a Sleep button (often on the keyboard) and for closing the lid on a laptop. You can configure all available options differently or the same, as you wish.

4. Select Save Changes. You can close the Power Options dialog box or leave it open for testing.

Note: You  may want to explore settings on the left side of the Power Options screen: Choose When to Turn Off the Display and Change When the Computer Sleeps.

5. Press the button to perform the action you selected.

Create a desktop shortcut to run one of these commands

1. On the Start screen in Windows 8, switch to the desktop (select Desktop tile or press Win+D).

2. Display the context menu on the desktop (touch and hold until a square appears or right-click).

3. Select New > Shortcut.

4. Type (or copy and paste) the text following the colon on one of the lines below into the first text box in the Shortcut dialog box.

• hibernate: shutdown /h
• shutdown: shutdown /s
• sleep: Rundll32.exe Powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Sleep [see update below]
• restart: shutdown /r

5. Select the Next button.

6. Type appropriate text in box.

7. Select the Finish button.

Note: Repeat these steps to create additional shortcuts, if you wish.

8. To pin a shortcut to the Start screen: On the desktop, display the context menu for the shortcut you created (touch and hold until a square appears, then release — don’t tap or you’ll run the shortcut — or right-click with mouse pointer over shortcut).

9. On the context menu, select Pin to Start.

Note: you can repeat Step 8 to select Pin to Taskbar to add this to the taskbar on the desktop.

10. On the Start screen, find your pinned shortcut to the far right of all other tiles.You can drag the shortcut to the left to make it more accessible.

[updated 03-01-13]

Create Sleep Shortcut Windows 8

Cole Slaw writes: After some investigation I have found that the sleep function only works if you disable hibernation before you use the shortcut.  It will then default to the sleep function instead of hibernation.  

Steps listed below on how to disable the hibernation function:

• Sleep command – rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0
  [Hibernation must be disabled for this command to work or it will just Hibernate instead of Sleep]

To Disable Hibernation –

1. Display the pop-out Charms menu and select Search (or press Windows key + q).
2. Type CMD then right click the Command Prompt app and select ‘Run as administrator’ from the panel at the bottom to open an elevated Command Prompt.
3. Select ‘Yes’ if a User Account Control warning appears.
4. In the Command Prompt, type “powercfg -h off” without the “” and press Enter to disable Hibernation.
5. It will not provide you any conformation of its completion

Create Sleep Shortcut Windows 8

Windows 8 for Seniors is available in paperback and Kindle editions. Visit my Facebook page to tell me which you have: Do you have the paperback or the Kindle edition of the book-. Thanks!

Sales rank for Windows 8 for Seniors remains high and sales continued to rise through Christmas Eve. (The book also ranks #31 in its Kindle category.)

Potential readers may wonder what distinguishes the For Seniors series from other computer books. The For Seniors books feature step-by-step instructions that tell the reader just what he or she needs to know to complete a specific task. The text is in a slightly larger-than-standard font, although not large print. Numerous illustrations of what you see on-screen accompany the steps.

These books don’t include much discussion or broad context. (I really had to rein in my desire to tell people four ways to do everything – I like knowing lots of different ways to do things, and knowing more than one way is often practical.) That said, the truth is these books are not limited to a specific age group.

For the most part, For Seniors books are for beginners of all ages who just want to get something done. I always have in mind a friend who says, “I want to know how to tell time, not how to make a watch.”