How to Enable or Disable Energy Saver on Windows 11

The Energy Saver feature in Windows 11 reduces your PC’s power consumption and on laptops, improves the battery life and backup time. Let’s learn how to enable or disable Energy Saver mode on Windows 11.

By default, Windows 11 runs on a Balanced Power Plan. As the name implies, it tries to balance power consumption and performance. It’s fine for most everyday tasks. But, what if you want to reduce the power consumption of your PC or improve the battery life on your laptop? That’s where Energy Saver mode comes in. It dials back power usage across the system – apps, background processes, everything – without sacrificing too much performance. You can even set Windows 11 to switch to Energy Saver automatically when your battery dips below a certain level.

In this quick and straightforward tutorial, I’ll show you three methods to enable and disable Energy Saver mode in Windows 11. Let’s get started.

Good to know: How to enable high-performance mode in Windows 11

Toggle Energy Saver Mode Using Quick Settings Panel

1. Click the “Volume” or “Network” icon on the taskbar.
2. Click the “Energy Saver” button in Quick Settings.
3. This will switch Energy Saver mode on or off.

When the Energy Saver mode is enabled, you will see a leaf icon on the taskbar.

Note: If you don’t see the “Energy Saver” button in the Quick Settings panel, scroll the button list using your mouse wheel or by clicking the small down arrow next to the buttons.

Automatically Enable or Disable Energy Saver Mode Based on Battery Percentage

On Windows 11, you can configure the system to automatically enable or disable the Energy Saver mode when the battery reaches a certain percentage. For example, enable Battery Saver mode when the battery dips below 30% and disable it when it is above 30%. Here’s how to do it:

1. Use the “Windows key + I” shortcut to open Settings.
2. Go to the “System” tab on the left sidebar.
3. Click the “Power & Battery” option.
4. Expand the “Energy Saver” option.
5. Select the battery percentage from the “Turn energy saver on automatically when the battery level is at” dropdown menu.
6. That’s it, Energy Saver will automatically turn on or off depending on the battery percentage.

Enable or Disable Energy Saver Mode Using Settings

If you want to enable or disable Energy Saver mode manually, you can also use the Settings app. Here’s how:

1. Open Settings by pressing the “Windows key + I” shortcut.
2. Go to the “System” > “Power & Battery” page.
3. Expand the “Energy Saver” section.
4. Turn ON the “Always use energy saver” to enable it.
5. Turn OFF the “Always use energy saver” to disable it.

What Happens When You Enable the Energy Saver Mode?

On enabling the Energy Saver mode, Windows does several things in the background to reduce power consumption.

• It restricts users from changing the power plan.
• Reduces screen brightness to 30%. However, you can further reduce or increase the brightness without affecting the Energy Saver mode.
• Some cosmetic effects (such as transparency) are disabled.
• Reduces CPU usage by the system, apps, and processes.

On laptops, the Energy Saver mode does a few things if the battery level is low and unplugged:

• Non-critical updates are paused or blocked.
• On critical telemetry is sent to Microsoft.
• Some scheduled tasks will not run.
• Certain apps, including OneNote, OneDrive, Phone Link, etc., will not sync to the cloud.
• Background apps are blocked.

Wrapping Up: Reduce Power Consumption and Increase Battery Life with Energy Saver Mode in Windows 11

As you can see, you have three ways to enable or disable the Energy Saver mode in Windows 11. For laptop users, it will turn on automatically when your battery dips below 30%. If needed, you can change when it turns on automatically using the Settings app as shown in the second method. For those who want to manually turn on or off the Energy Saver mode, use the Quick Settings panel (first method) or the Settings app (third method).

Once enabled, Windows does several things in the background to reduce power consumption without sacrificing the performance too much.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.