Power Settings in Default XP Profile

[Thomas M.]

Windows XP SP2

We have a PC that is currently functioning as a print server (there is a
connected USB printer). We are having a problem with the PC going to sleep,
which prevents users from printing to the USB printer. We have turned off
all the power options in the BIOS. If we log on to the PC and turn off all
the power options in the Control Panel, and then leave the machine logged on
and locked, it works. However, the users would like to make it work without
needing the leave the PC logged in.

I'm thinking that it may be possible to modify the default user profile and
turn all the power options off, and that this might then prevent the machine
from going to sleep while it is logged off. We're hoping that the power
options from the default user profile will get loaded by Windows even though
the machine is logged off, but at the same time I'm betting against that
being the case.

Any suggestions for how to resolve this issue will be greatly appreciated.

--Tom

 

[Thomas M.]

For anyone who might be interested, creating a new profile and modifying the
power options and then saving that profile as the default profile DOES fix
this problem. Windows must load up the power settings from the default
profile before the login screen appears. I don't know that for certain but
it would seem to be a reasonable assumption because it affords the user some
degree of control over the power usage of a device that is left on but
logged off.

--Tom