On Windows 11, the development team is updating the energy settings in a continued effort to improve power consumption. The new changes are available starting on build 23506 from the Dev Channel, and it appears that Microsoft is working on making available the energy statistics for all types of devices, including traditional desktop computers, in addition to laptops and tablets.
As part of the update, on the “Power & battery” page, the “Battery usage” settings are now being renamed to “Energy & battery usage.” Also, the section now shows energy usage data as well as battery level. The “Energy usage” is available for both desktops and devices with batteries, and “Energy usage” and “Battery level” are available for laptops and tablets. Furthermore, the settings also show the total energy usage and emissions impact details.
As usual, the “Energy & battery usage” (or Energy usage) includes screen and sleep information and the energy usage per each application.
The new changes for the “Power & battery” page are still under development, and @PhantomOfEarth has spotted them on Twitter. If you want to get hands-on with the new settings, you can use a third-party tool called “ViveTool,” created by Rafael Rivera and Lucas on GitHub, to enable the experience on your computer.
This guide will teach you the steps to enable the new Energy & battery usage settings on Windows 11.
Enable new energy and battery usage settings on Windows 11
To enable the new energy and battery usage settings, use these steps:
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Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file to enable the new energy settings.
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Double-click the zip folder to open it with File Explorer.
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Click the Extract all button.
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Click the Extract button.
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Copy the path to the folder.
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Open Start.
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Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
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Type the following command to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter:
cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x
In the command, remember to change the path to the folder with your path.
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Type the following command to enable the Energy & battery usage settings on Windows 11 and press Enter:
vivetool /enable /id:44663396,44663406
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Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, the next time you open the Settings app, you will find the new Energy & battery usage settings under the “Power” or “Power & battery” page.
In addition to these improvements, the “Energy recommendations” settings include two new recommendations to configure dark mode and adjust the dynamic refresh rate (if supported) to conserve energy. These changes are part of build 23506, and they should be available automatically without extra configuration.
If you change your mind, you can revert the changes with the same instructions, but on step 10, make sure to use the vivetool /disable /id:44663396,44663406 command and then restart the computer.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].