Powercfg: Back Up and Restore Windows Power Plans

What a power-plan backup includes​

A power plan—also called a power scheme—contains the Windows settings that govern display timeouts, sleep and hibernation behavior, processor power management, and other available advanced power options.

powercfg /export backs up one plan at a time. If you have several custom plans, export each one to its own .pow file. The exported files are not ordinary documents: keep them intact and import them only with powercfg.

This process does not replace a full Windows backup. It is specifically for the settings stored in a selected power plan. Hardware capabilities can differ between PCs, so an imported plan may not expose or apply every setting in exactly the same way on a different model.

Before you begin​

Prepare the following:

• An administrator account on the Windows PC.
• A backup location that will survive a reinstall, such as a USB drive, external disk, encrypted cloud-storage folder, or network location.
• A folder for the exported files. This guide uses C:\PowerPlanBackup as the temporary local folder.
• The exact plan or plans you want to preserve.

Use an elevated Command Prompt or Windows Terminal for the commands below.

• Open Start.
• Type Command Prompt or Terminal.
• Select Run as administrator.
• Approve the User Account Control prompt if Windows displays one.

The commands work in either Command Prompt or PowerShell. The examples use Command Prompt-style paths and quotation marks.

List your existing power plans​

Start by listing every plan Windows currently knows about.

• In the elevated command window, run:
  powercfg /list
• Press Enter.

Windows displays a result similar to this:

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567890ab  (Balanced) *
Power Scheme GUID: 23456789-2345-2345-2345-2345678901bc  (My Travel Plan)
Power Scheme GUID: 34567890-3456-3456-3456-3456789012cd  (Desktop Performance)

Each entry has:

• A GUID, which is the long identifier after Power Scheme GUID:.
• A plan name in parentheses.
• An asterisk (*) beside the plan currently active on the PC.

Copy the GUID for each plan you intend to back up. Do not use the visible plan name in place of the GUID when exporting; powercfg /export requires the plan’s GUID.

If you only need to preserve the plan you are using now, you can also confirm its identity with:

powercfg /getactivescheme

Create a backup folder​

Create a clearly named folder before exporting. You can create it in File Explorer or with a command.

To create the example folder, run:

mkdir C:\PowerPlanBackup

If the folder already exists, Windows reports that it exists; that does not affect the exported files already in it.

For a backup that will survive a clean installation, copy the completed folder to external or cloud storage after export. A folder on the Windows system drive is useful only as a staging location.

Export each custom power plan​

Use one powercfg /export command for each plan. The command format is:

powercfg /export "full-path-to-file.pow" plan-GUID

Replace:

• full-path-to-file.pow with the destination and filename you want.
• plan-GUID with the GUID shown by powercfg /list.

For example, if the plan named My Travel Plan has this GUID:

23456789-2345-2345-2345-2345678901bc

export it with:

powercfg /export "C:\PowerPlanBackup\My-Travel-Plan.pow" 23456789-2345-2345-2345-2345678901bc

Export a second plan separately:

powercfg /export "C:\PowerPlanBackup\Desktop-Performance.pow" 34567890-3456-3456-3456-3456789012cd

Choose filenames that identify the plan and, if useful, the original computer or backup date. For example:

Laptop-Travel-Plan.pow
Desktop-Quiet-Mode.pow
Workstation-High-Performance.pow

Avoid using the same filename for different plans. Exporting another plan to the same path can overwrite the earlier backup file.

Back up the active plan​

If the plan with the asterisk is the one you need, copy its GUID and export it. For example:

powercfg /export "C:\PowerPlanBackup\Active-Plan.pow" 12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567890ab

The word Active-Plan is only the backup filename. It does not change the plan’s actual name or make it active later.

Confirm the backup files were created​

After exporting, open C:\PowerPlanBackup in File Explorer and confirm that each expected .pow file is present.

You can also verify from the command window:

dir C:\PowerPlanBackup

The output should list your exported .pow files.

For additional protection:

• Copy the entire PowerPlanBackup folder to your chosen external or cloud backup location.
• Keep the files together with a short note identifying the original PC and Windows version.
• Do not edit the .pow files in a text editor.

If you are about to reinstall Windows, verify that the external copy is readable before erasing or resetting the PC.

Import a saved plan after reinstalling Windows or moving PCs​

On the destination PC, copy the .pow file to a local location or use its full path on removable storage. Then open an elevated Command Prompt or Terminal.

The import command format is:

powercfg /import "full-path-to-file.pow"

For example:

powercfg /import "C:\PowerPlanBackup\My-Travel-Plan.pow"

Or, if the file is on a USB drive assigned the letter E::

powercfg /import "E:\PowerPlanBackup\My-Travel-Plan.pow"

When you do not supply a GUID, Windows creates a new GUID for the imported plan. That is normally the safest approach because it avoids relying on the identifier used on the original PC.

Importing adds the plan to Windows; it does not automatically make that plan active.

If the command completes without an error message, list the available plans:

powercfg /list

Look for the imported plan’s name and copy its newly displayed GUID. The GUID can be different from the one on the PC where the plan was exported.

Activate the restored plan​

After importing, activate the restored plan with its destination-PC GUID.

The command format is:

powercfg /setactive plan-GUID

For example:

powercfg /setactive 45678901-4567-4567-4567-4567890123de

Immediately confirm the active plan:

powercfg /getactivescheme

You can also run:

powercfg /list

The active plan has an asterisk next to it.

No restart is normally required after importing or activating a power plan. However, test the settings that matter to you—such as display timeout, sleep behavior, lid action on a laptop, or performance under load—before assuming the restored plan behaves identically on new hardware.

Verify the restored settings​

A matching plan name does not by itself prove that all expected settings were retained. Use powercfg /query to inspect the active plan’s settings.

To display the active plan’s configured settings, run:

powercfg /query

To inspect one specific restored plan without activating it first, run:

powercfg /query plan-GUID

For example:

powercfg /query 45678901-4567-4567-4567-4567890123de

The output is detailed and uses GUIDs for power-setting groups and individual settings. It is most useful for comparing a plan before and after migration or confirming that a particular advanced configuration is present.

For a practical check, also open the classic Power Options interface:

• Open Control Panel.
• Select Hardware and Sound.
• Select Power Options.
• Confirm that the restored plan appears in the list and is selected if you activated it.

Some plans may appear under Show additional plans.

If the restored plan is not listed​

Use the following checks.

• The import command reported an error: Confirm that the path is correct and points to the actual .pow file produced by powercfg /export. Put quotation marks around any path containing spaces.
• The plan does not appear after import: Run powercfg /list from an elevated command window. Do not rely only on the Control Panel list, which may group or collapse plans.
• You imported the plan but cannot tell which one is new: Compare the list before and after import, or use a distinctive filename and plan name before creating the backup. On the source PC, you can rename a plan with powercfg /changename before exporting if you need a clearer label.
• The plan is present but not selected: Importing does not activate it. Run powercfg /setactive with the GUID shown on the destination PC.
• A setting is missing or behaves differently on the new PC: This is usually a compatibility difference rather than a failed import. Desktop and laptop hardware can expose different power controls, and manufacturer firmware or drivers can influence available settings. Keep the imported plan as a reference, then adjust only the settings supported by the destination PC.

Recover if the restored plan causes unwanted behavior​

Activating a plan changes the system’s current power behavior. If the restored plan produces undesirable sleep, display, battery, or performance results, switch back to another existing plan rather than changing multiple advanced settings at once.

• List plans:
  powercfg /list
• Identify a known-good plan, such as the existing Balanced plan.
• Activate it with its displayed GUID:
  powercfg /setactive known-good-plan-GUID
• Confirm the change:
  powercfg /getactivescheme

The imported plan remains available for later comparison or adjustment.