X61: Power Manager working on Windows 10

[GezzaF7]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been done to death already, but I couldn't find any definitive advice on getting
Power manager (with proper battery charge thresholds) working on Windows 10, on an X61, so I did
a load of searching and testing and came up with a solution that worked for me.

I had updated (I hesitate to say upgraded!) my X61 to windows 10 (ver 1909) and after a lot of hangs,
and reinstall's I got it working pretty well - it seems to run cooler than it did on Win 7 too, bonus!

What really bugged me was the lack of Lenovo power manager on Windows 10. There are loads of posts,
saying the one from the Windows shop works, or Lenovo Vantage works, or the Lenovo Settings download fixes it,
or run the Win 7 version in win 7 compatibility mode on win 10, I tried it all and nothing worked until!

I saw this post on 'answers.microsoft.com' (Kudos to 'wmfan_somebody_stole _my_screen_name' and 'KeyboardOverMouse' for original posts).

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 16d34b3f3b

You will need the windows 7 version of the power manager software : n1au415w.exe
You will also need the driver, i used the windows 10 one: n2hku07w_x64.exe

I had already installed the driver and the win 7 PM software, put the setup file into windows 7 compatibility mode, but no dice.
It seems that Microsoft have put a hard block on the Win 7 Power manager running on Win 10.
To get it working, what you need to do is follow the advice in the link above, namely:

1. go to C:\DRIVERS\VISTA\PWRMGRV (i had this folder created from my earlier failed install) and check/change setup.exe compatibility mode to windows 7
2. go to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/window ... x#adkwin10 and download "Windows ADK for Windows 10, Version 2004"
(this worked fine for me even though I'm on ver 1909)
3. run it and uncheck everything else apart from the first tick (i think) as you only need to install "compatibility administrator"
4. run "compatibility administrator", on the left, expand System Database->Applications, find and click "Lenovo Power Manager"
5. on the right, right mouse click setup.exe and select "disable entry" (this will take the hard block off)
6. Go back to the C:\DRIVERS\VISTA\PWRMGRV folder and click on the setup.exe to install PM for win 7-

Waahay! I can now look after my battery, you get the original 'Charge Threshold' setting options and 'Battery Gauge Reset' Result!

Hope this helps someone.

[geoffct]

Thanks for this guide, it worked perfectly for a T60 that likes to kill batteries. Hopefully charging thresholds can get it past one year on the knockoff batteries.

Thanks Again.

[TOTAL]

Really cool, just tested on thinkpad x230 windows 10 home and it does the main thing, that is the battery charge control. Notes:

1. In the second attempt at the installation of the app, windows wanted to install some component, which I allowed and after installing this, then installing power manager again (perhaps not essential) and still another install, the app controls the battery and processor properly.
2. It is not autostarting, so a workaround is needed, a link to windows starup folder should do but which is the application other than the one with the gui, i.e. PWMUI?
3. the gauge icon in the taskbard is not showing percentage and the plug shows regardless if mains is connected. In brief, not working. not a big deal but if someone finds out please share.
4. Also, the PM app itself is no longer hosted where expected and google is not much help. I used the copies found in some old unsorted dl folder.

[LectorMalibu]

I just wanted to thank the contributors to this thread. After what (seemed like) an eternity, I was able to get threshold charging caps on my Thinkpad X201 Tablet. I was lucky enough to get a decent 3rd party battery and am currently getting 5-6 hours for "light" stuff/task. This will help ensure that the battery last a little longer.

[TPFanatic]

Just used this method to install Power Manager 6 onto my X61 operating 22H2.
Internet connection was needed to install Windows ADK, and Windows Update was needed to install Net Framework 3.5 for Power Manager to run. That done, I have Power Manager installed and I set the charge thresholds.

It was faster to do this than try to troubleshoot Commercial Vantage not working properly on this legacy hardware.

I have the latest Firefox with Ublock origin installed, Hotkey Features integration working, and now hopefully charge thresholds functional. This X61 is ready to rock and roll.

[dr_st]

It's pretty awesome that Power Manager 6 still works on 22H2. Comparing this to your experience with Commercial Vantage, this shows that properly written software forwards compatibility is better than hardware backwards compatibility.

[TPFanatic]

I saw this on the subreddit the other day, a way to utilize Lenovo's ChargeThreshold.exe software that is downloadable from Lenovo and also included with Vantage to set thresholds, without needing Vantage.

https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... out_admin/

https://github.com/MatijaKlobasa/ThinkP ... in-vantage

I am sure this certainly comes in handy. As for me, my Vantage has for no reason stopped detecting my battery on my P71. So I will use this to change the thresholds.

ThinkPad Battery Chrage threshold without admin and Vantage

This "program" is the result of me not beeing to set a battery charge threshold on my new work issued ThinkPad but the winodows store is blocked by IT and im a only a standard user. Don't get me wrong, i could make my account to have admin rights if i wanted to but to avoid any incidents, so i decided to work around it. Which is good since this is how this batch "program" was born.

Turns out Lenovos battery threshold is managed by the Lenovo Power and battery driver which is then triggered or disabled by Lenovo Vantage. But the best part is it can be triggered by other things, like the program ChargeThreshold.exe that Lenovo themself made. I included this program in the zip but here is the link anyway: https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs//thi ... eshold.exe

This is great! The program runs simply with launchung it with a CMD window(it does not have to be elevated) in its directory and giving it a value to set the battery % at.

example: ChargeThreshold.exe 80 70

The problem: making a .bat file would be easy but my antivirus makes this not beeing an option. So thats when it hit me: build a shortcut to cmd.exe, launch it in its directory and enter the desired values. In this directory there are different shortcuts and instructions on how to use it. I included some preset ones (current threshold lookup, OFF, 90, 80, 70) and a script that you enter the values manualy. Some are quiet, some time out and some wait for the user to exit. Slovenian and english versions are available.

Compatibilty: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ no idea what its compatible with. With my limited testing i assmue that everything from XX30 series ThinkPads upto the latest ThinkPad computers are supported.

Tested and working on: X230, T530, T570, X280, P51, T16 gen1 Intel,

Use this tiny (800kB ish) program instead of Lenovos bloated vantage as you wish, share it, mod it, whatever just don't sell it.

[TPFanatic]

I wanted to corroborate the alternative method to install power manager.

Obtain the power manager installer and extract the contents.

Find setup.exe and copy and paste it, creating setup - copy.exe.

Run the copy in compatibility mode for Windows 7 and it will install power manager on Windows 10.

Worked on my modified X230. Ive found that Laptop still has use to me in 2024 as a travel machine, it is more powerful and has more screen and battery life than my t470; so ive upgraded it to run the latest browsers. Also wanted to install 10 so i could get bitlocker while retaining the filesystem (i did the in place upgrade). Also verified the in place upgrade also no longer yields a digital license. Deactivated still works fine for my purposes so no complaints.

[JoelShum]

I am a novice at this and totally frustrated.
Tried the OP suggested method and doesnt work for me. I installed all files suggested and ran as suggested. Maybe only variant is I am on W10 2H22. Weird thing is for compatiblity mode only Vista works.

I tried the GitHub method suggested above. While the file executes and I am able to input say stop charging at 50% and start at 45%, it doesnt work.

Anyone tried either method above lately especially with W10 2H22 and the latest patches and get this to work?

Seems there is a newer ADK Toolkit (September 2023) encompassing W11 and all prior versions of W10. I didnt try that but should it really matter?

[JoelShum]

Update: I msut be blind. Got the threshold fields! I did installed the latest ADK Sept 2023 but believe that has no bearing as the thresholds were probably in the PM App but I didnt spot them. Got so used to seeing them in Vantage that I forgot how the PM app GUI works. Thanks all!

[JoelShum]

Im typing to myself so far. lol. Hopefully, someone responds to this. The solution works but I am finding after a cold boot/restart I have to at least open the PM software before the threshold settings (which I have at under 45 start/ stop at 50) "stick" again. Thanks!

[TPFanatic]

Install the Lenovo power and battery driver for Windows 10, that’ll sort out the thresholds’ impermanence.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downlo ... r-thinkpad