How to change Power button action when on battery or plugged in

In this post, we will show you how to change the Power button action when it is on battery or plugged in, in Windows 11/10, using Local Group Policy Editor or the Registry Editor. We have seen how to change what the Power button does, using the Control Panel, now let us see how to do it via GPEDIT or REGEDIT.

How to change Power button action on Windows 11/0

To change the Power button action on Windows 11/10 using Group Policy Editor, follow these steps-

1. Press Win+R.
2. Type gpedit.msc and hit the Enter button.
3. Go to Button Settings in Computer Configuration.
4. Double-click on the Select the Power button action.
5. Select Enabled option.
6. Choose an action from the Power Button Action drop-down list.
7. Click Apply and OK.

Open the Local Group Policy Editor. For that, press Win+R, type gpedit.msc, and hit the Enter button. After that, navigate to the following path-

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Button Settings

You will get two settings:

• Select the Power button action (plugged in)
• Select the Power button action (on battery).

Click on each of them, select the Enabled option, and select an action after expanding the Power Button Action drop-down list.

At last, click the Apply and OK buttons, respectively.

The following method is about Registry tweak. Therefore, it is recommended to backup all Registry files and create a System Restore point first.

Change Power button action using Registry Editor

To change the Power button action on Windows 10, follow the following steps.

Open the Registry Editor. For that, press Win+R, type regedit and hit the Enter button. Now, you will see the UAC prompt where you will have to click the Yes button. Then, navigate to the following path-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Power\PowerSettings\7648EFA3-DD9C-4E3E-B566-50F929386280

Right-click on 7648EFA3-DD9C-4E3E-B566-50F929386280 > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as ACSettingIndex or DCSettingIndex.

ACSettingIndex presents the Select the Power button action (plugged in) setting, whereas DCSettingIndex defines the Select the Power button action (on battery) setting. For your information, you can add both as well.

After naming the REG_DWORD value, double-click on it to set the Value data. You can enter any one of these- 1, 2, and 3.

• 1: Sleep
• 2: Hibernate
• 3: Shut down

At last, click the OK button to save it.

Other buttons such as the Sleep button action or lid switch action – all of these can be changed from the Local Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor. All those settings are visible in the last place where you have got the Power button action setting, viz:

• Select the Sleep button action (plugged in)
• Select the Sleep button action (on battery)
• Select the lid switch action (plugged in)
• Select the lid switch action (on battery)

You will have to create the same ACSettingIndex or DCSettingIndex DWORD (32-bit) Values in the Registry Editor – but create it in the 5CA83367-6E45-459F-A27B-476B1D01C936 key for the lid switch action, and 96996BC0-AD50-47EC-923B-6F41874DD9EB for the Sleep button action.

I hope this tutorial helps.