Create a SleepStudy analysis in Windows 11 or 10

Battery life is a crucial factor for mobile devices such as a laptop. Windows provides a diagnostic tool called “SleepStudy,” which provides insight into system power consumption and behavior during modern sleep mode.

What is Modern Sleep Mode?

Before we go in-depth with SleepStudy, it's essential to understand modern sleep mode. It is a low-power state in which a Windows device can wake up quickly while staying connected to the network, similar to the sleep mode of smartphones. This allows the device to perform background tasks, such as updating updates, without disturbing the user.

What is SleepStudy?

SleepStudy is a built-in tool in Windows 11 and 10 that analyzes system power consumption and activity during Modern Sleep. The goal is to identify which processes or hardware components consume the most energy during these periods.

By understanding activity and energy consumption during sleep mode, users and IT administrators can:

• Identify problem applications or processes that are draining the battery unnecessarily.
• Optimize device settings for longer battery life.
• Gain greater insight into the overall energy management of the system.

While SleepStudy is a useful tool, it only works on devices that support Modern Sleep. It is not available on older Windows systems or on systems that do not support this specific hibernation mode.

Always keep in mind that while SleepStudy tracks power consumption during Modern Sleep mode, actual battery life can also be affected by other factors such as hardware, battery condition, external devices and more.

Create a SleepStudy analysis in Windows 11 or 10

To get started, open a Command Prompt as an administrator. Search for “cmd.exe” via the taskbar. Then click on “run as administrator”.

Copy and paste the line below into the Command Prompt window:

powercfg /SleepStudy /output %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\sleepstudy-analyse.html

A SleepStudy analysis will now be placed on the desktop of the profile you are logged in with. This file is called “sleepstudy-analyse.html”.

Report information

The overview contains the following basic information:

1. Session number: This starts at one and adds up for each session listed in the report. By default, this overview covers the last three days.
2. Start time: The date and time when a session begins, represented as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. If there are multiple sessions on the same day, the date will not be repeated.
3. Duration: How long the computer was in Modern Sleep mode, indicated in hours, minutes, and seconds.
4. Energy change: Shows how much energy (in milliwatt hours) has been used and what this is as a percentage of the battery capacity. If there is no change in the battery, you will see a dash (-).
5. Rate of change: How quickly the energy changes, indicated in milliwatts, and whether the computer was charging (AC) or using the battery (DC).
6. % Time in Low Energy Consumption: Shows how long the computer was in the most energy efficient mode. This is especially relevant for certain computers with Intel or Qualcomm chips.

It is also good to know that:

• Sessions shorter than ten minutes will not appear in the report.
• To understand the true performance of sleep mode, look for sessions longer than ten minutes. Sessions longer than an hour provide a better representation of the user experience.
• Energy change is not tracked when the computer is charging (AC). This is because the power settings are different when the computer is plugged in than when it is running on battery power.
• Each row in the overview is a link that gives you more details about that specific session in the SleepStudy report.

Advanced options

By default, the SleepStudy report covers the last three days of system operation. To change the duration of the SleepStudy report, use the /duration option of the powercfg.exe tool. This option adds an extra parameter, namely the number of days (up to a maximum of 28) that the SleepStudy report should cover.

For example, to generate a SleepStudy report for the last seven days of system operation, open a Command Prompt as administrator and enter the following command:

powercfg /sleepstudy /duration 7

I hope to have informed you with this. Thank you for reading!

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