Can't save new profiles in "Power Options"

[Michel Merlin]

In a newly installed Windows XP Pro, I go to

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options >
Power Schemes,

and I try to save new profiles in the "Power schemes" box
(yes, the path really is "Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Power Options > Power Schemes > Power schemes", with
the uppercase/lowercase "s" being the only difference
between the last 2 stages).

Unfortunately after carefully tuning my profile, I "Save As" it
under a new name (say "Merlin")... only to discover, next time I
come back to Power Options > Power Schemes, that it has
disappeared. The only 3 profiles that remain are the 2 original
ones, "Home/Office Desk" and "Portable/Laptop", and the one I
could save at the very beginning, before they start to
disappear, "Battery Drain" (that I created to help training my
battery).

I tried several different ways:

- 1st changing the settings, 2nd applying, 3rd "Save As" as
"Merlin";
- 1st "Save As" the current profile as "Merlin", 2nd changing
it, 3rd Apply, 4th "OK";
- and so on.

Some ways seem to work but when I come back the new profile has
disappeared (and another one has been selected against my will).

I remember that I had alreay that problem a few years ago
in W2K, and that I searched with no success for weeks
before stumbling on the solution y accident; this is why
all my other PCs (W98SE, W2K, WXPH) have their 6 or 7 profiles
OK. But I can't remember that solution... Thanks for any help,

Paris, Thu 23 Mar 2006 11:09:30 +0100

 

[Jon]

In a newly installed Windows XP Pro, I go to

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options >
Power Schemes,

and I try to save new profiles in the "Power schemes" box
(yes, the path really is "Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Power Options > Power Schemes > Power schemes", with
the uppercase/lowercase "s" being the only difference
between the last 2 stages).

Unfortunately after carefully tuning my profile, I "Save As" it
under a new name (say "Merlin")... only to discover, next time I
come back to Power Options > Power Schemes, that it has
disappeared. The only 3 profiles that remain are the 2 original
ones, "Home/Office Desk" and "Portable/Laptop", and the one I
could save at the very beginning, before they start to
disappear, "Battery Drain" (that I created to help training my
battery).

I tried several different ways:

- 1st changing the settings, 2nd applying, 3rd "Save As" as
"Merlin";
- 1st "Save As" the current profile as "Merlin", 2nd changing
it, 3rd Apply, 4th "OK";
- and so on.

Some ways seem to work but when I come back the new profile has
disappeared (and another one has been selected against my will).

I remember that I had alreay that problem a few years ago
in W2K, and that I searched with no success for weeks
before stumbling on the solution y accident; this is why
all my other PCs (W98SE, W2K, WXPH) have their 6 or 7 profiles
OK. But I can't remember that solution... Thanks for any help,

Paris, Thu 23 Mar 2006 11:09:30 +0100

You could try this....

start > run > regedit

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies

Export the key, as a backup, in case you want to restore it.

Look at the various key listed there eg 10, 11, 12 and see what comes up in
the "Name" value in the right pane for each one.
See if any of the keys have no "Name" value key, or a blank one, or any
other strange anomalies, in the right pane and try exporting/ deleting
those.

Try and keep the keys with values 0,1,2,3,4,5 as they're the default ones.

Then check in Power Options to see if your profiles are now visible.


Jon

 

[Michel Merlin]

Thanks Jon! Right on the spot! Yes this is the solution I used
too, and it worked at once (I make a visible title for others
eventually in the same boat, and I develop for them - knowing
the time that may be wasted looking for this!).

It seems Windows does 3 questionable things in that affair:

1) when parsing the Registry Key you recall
(HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies),
Windows apparently stops parsing as soon as it hits an
incomplete Value; namely, a Value without a name.

2) This parsing is done by sorting the Values by their
*numbers*, but *alphabetically* instead of numerically -
which builds the following order:
0, 1, 10, 11, 12, ..., 2, 21, 22, ...
(BTW this mistake, out of casualness, is frequent - and most
often IMO loses more time on the reader's side than it saves on
the writer's one).

3) It happens (probably due to another mistake in Windows code)
that the new profiles you enter, when converted into "Values" to
be stored in the said Registry Key, have no more name.

The result is: as you add new Values that all are losing their
names, as soon as one of them reaches the "10" number, it gets
sorted between "1" and "2"; then it causes all the main Values
(0, 1, 2, 3, .., 8, 9) to be ignored, unless the 0 ("Home/Office
Desk") and 1 ("Portable/Laptop").

Then doing exactly as you said (exporting or deleting all the
Values missing a name), does immediately retrieve all your
profiles - which then were hidden, not lost.
Thanks again Jon!

Paris, Thu 23 Mar 2006 15:32:15 +0100


----- Parent Message -----
From: "Jon" <[email protected]>
Newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/%[email protected]
Sent: Thu 23 Mar 2006 11:52:59 -0000 (Paris 12:52:59 +0100)
Subject: Re: Can't save new profiles in "Power Options"

You could try this....

start > run > regedit

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies

Export the key, as a backup, in case you want to restore it.

Look at the various key listed there eg 10, 11, 12 and see what
comes up in the "Name" value in the right pane for each one. See
if any of the keys have no "Name" value key, or a blank one,
or any other strange anomalies, in the right pane and try
exporting/ deleting those.

Try and keep the keys with values 0,1,2,3,4,5 as they're the
default ones.

Then check in Power Options to see if your profiles are now
visible.

Jon


----- Parent Message -----
From: "Michel Merlin" <[email protected]>
Newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/%[email protected]
Sent: Thu 23 Mar 2006 11:09:30 +0100
Subject: Can't save new profiles in "Power Options"

In a newly installed Windows XP Pro, I go to

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options >
Power Schemes,

and I try to save new profiles in the "Power schemes" box
(yes, the path really is "Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Power Options > Power Schemes > Power schemes", with
the uppercase/lowercase "s" being the only difference
between the last 2 stages).

Unfortunately after carefully tuning my profile, I "Save As" it
under a new name (say "Merlin")... only to discover, next time I
come back to Power Options > Power Schemes, that it has
disappeared. The only 3 profiles that remain are the 2 original
ones, "Home/Office Desk" and "Portable/Laptop", and the one I
could save at the very beginning, before they start to
disappear, "Battery Drain" (that I created to help training my
battery).

I tried several different ways:

- 1st changing the settings, 2nd applying, 3rd "Save As" as
"Merlin";
- 1st "Save As" the current profile as "Merlin", 2nd changing
it, 3rd Apply, 4th "OK";
- and so on.

Some ways seem to work but when I come back the new profile has
disappeared (and another one has been selected against my will).

I remember that I had alreay that problem a few years ago
in W2K, and that I searched with no success for weeks
before stumbling on the solution y accident; this is why
all my other PCs (W98SE, W2K, WXPH) have their 6 or 7 profiles
OK. But I can't remember that solution... Thanks for any help,

Paris, Thu 23 Mar 2006 11:09:30 +0100

 

[Jon]

Thanks Michel. Glad it worked.

For some strange reason your post also reminded me of one I made nearly 2
years ago now,
on the same subject (after having had exactly the same problem myself).
So I actually ended up hunting for it in my records, since it's not easy to
find it on-line.

Thanks for providing us with an explanation as to why it behaves the way it
does.
Yes, that would make alot of sense, especially the alphabetical, rather than
numerical,
sorting aspect, and its stopping once it hits a "no name error" in its
parsing.


All the best


Jon