PowerToys Awake Module

A PowerToys utility that prevents Windows from sleeping and/or turning off the display.

Author: Den Delimarsky

Resources

• Awake Website - Official documentation and guides
• Microsoft Learn Documentation - Usage instructions and feature overview
• GitHub Issues - Report bugs or request features

Overview

The Awake module consists of three projects:

How It Works

The module uses the Win32 SetThreadExecutionState() API to signal Windows that the system should remain awake:

• ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED - Prevents system sleep
• ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED - Prevents display sleep
• ES_CONTINUOUS - Maintains state until explicitly changed

Operating Modes

Command-Line Usage

Awake can be run standalone with the following options:

PowerToys.Awake.exe [options]

Options:
  -c, --use-pt-config    Use PowerToys configuration file
  -d, --display-on       Keep display on (default: false)
  -t, --time-limit       Time limit in seconds
  -p, --pid              Process ID to bind to
  -e, --expire-at        Expiration date/time
  -u, --use-parent-pid   Bind to parent process

Examples

Keep system awake indefinitely:

PowerToys.Awake.exe

Keep awake for 1 hour with display on:

PowerToys.Awake.exe --time-limit 3600 --display-on

Keep awake until a specific time:

PowerToys.Awake.exe --expire-at "2024-12-31 23:59:59"

Keep awake while another process is running:

PowerToys.Awake.exe --pid 1234

Architecture

Design Highlights

1. Pure Win32 API for Tray UI - No WPF/WinForms dependencies, keeping the binary small. Uses direct Shell_NotifyIcon API for tray icon management.

2. Reactive Extensions (Rx.NET) - Used for timed operations via Observable.Interval() and Observable.Timer(). File system watching uses 25ms throttle to debounce rapid config changes.

3. Custom SynchronizationContext - Queue-based message dispatch ensures tray operations run on a dedicated thread for thread-safe UI updates.

4. Dual-Mode Operation

   • Standalone: Command-line arguments only
   • Integrated: PowerToys settings file + process binding

5. Process Binding - The --pid parameter keeps the system awake only while a target process runs, with auto-exit when the parent PowerToys runner terminates.

Key Files

Building

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 or 2026 with C++ and .NET workloads
• Windows SDK 10.0.26100.0 or later

Build Commands

From the src/modules/awake directory:

# Using the build script
.\scripts\Build-Awake.ps1

# Or with specific configuration
.\scripts\Build-Awake.ps1 -Configuration Debug -Platform x64

Or using MSBuild directly:

msbuild Awake\Awake.csproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

Dependencies

• System.CommandLine - Command-line parsing
• System.Reactive - Rx.NET for timer management
• PowerToys.ManagedCommon - Shared PowerToys utilities
• PowerToys.Settings.UI.Lib - Settings integration
• PowerToys.Interop - Native interop layer

Configuration

When running with PowerToys (--use-pt-config), settings are stored in:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\Awake\settings.json

Known Limitations

Task Scheduler Idle Detection (#44134)

When "Keep display on" is enabled, Awake uses the ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED flag which blocks Windows Task Scheduler from detecting the system as idle. This prevents scheduled maintenance tasks (like SSD TRIM, disk defragmentation, and other idle-triggered tasks) from running.

Per Microsoft's documentation:

"An exception would be for any presentation type application that sets the ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED flag. This flag forces Task Scheduler to not consider the system as being idle, regardless of user activity or resource consumption."

Workarounds:

1. Disable "Keep display on" - With this setting off, Awake only uses ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED which still prevents sleep but allows Task Scheduler to detect idle state.

2. Manually run maintenance tasks - For example, to run TRIM manually:

   powershellCopy

   # Run as Administrator
   Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter C -ReTrim -Verbose
   

Telemetry

The module emits telemetry events for:

• Keep-awake mode changes (indefinite, timed, expirable, passive)
• Privacy-compliant event tagging via Microsoft.PowerToys.Telemetry