Power Control Made EZ

 

As Technologist, our departments are sometimes seen as purely “cost centers” instead of valuable assets that are necessary for the company.  While departments like Sales can clearly add money to the bottom line, we usually just spend it.

 

However, I stumbled on a free tool that can help you change all that, and actually put cold hard cash back to the bottom line.  It’s called EZ GPO, and it allows you to manage all of your company’s monitor and computer power management from one central location.  EZ GPO was written by Terra Novum (http://www.terranovum.com) under a contract from the EPA.  Their goal is to address the power consumption of 2 million monitors.  Imagine the benefit our environment would gain if 2 million monitors were turned off when not in use.

 

According to the Energy Star web site, organizations all over the U.S. are saving thousands of dollars annually by powering off their monitors and/or computers during the night.  The North Thurston Public Schools, for example, saves approximately $45,000 each year in electricity by using the power management of their 4000 computers.  The reduction in power consumption is enough to light over 700 homes for a year!

 

Downloading

 

In order to download EZ GPO, go to the Energy Star website at www.energystar.gov.  Search for “download ez gpo”.  This will take you a page that explains what the software does, how it works, and offers some downloadable case studies.  Click on “Download EZ GPO software”.  This will redirect you to Terra Novum’s web site to fill out a short survey asking how many computers you have, etc.  Note that you do not have to give them your personal contact information if you do not wish to.  There is no cost to download or use EZ GPO.

 

The download comes in a zip format, and consists of two parts; the client software, and an ADM template.  There is also a “test and non AD” folder included in the ZIP file.  These can be used if you do not have AD, or if you are using ZENWORKS in a Novell environment.  We will not be using it in this project.

 

Installing

 

The first step is to install the client software onto each of your company’s computers.  You could simply send out your Helpdesk Technicians to do the job, but that obviously takes a lot of time.  In addition, it doesn’t make upgrading the software very easy either.  Luckily, the client comes in a nice MSI format that is perfect to deploy via a Group Policy.  If you have deployed software via Group Policy, then you already know what to do.  Be sure to assign the policy to machines and not users however.

 

If you’ve never installed software via a Group Policy, then you’re in for a treat.  This is one of the coolest features of Active Directory.  Follow these simply steps to deploy the EZ GPO Client:

 

  1. Copy the EZ GPO Installer.msi file to a network share.  Because the path to the file cannot be changed after the group policy is created, it is considered best practice to use a DFS share if available.  I like to make the network share hidden as well.  This prevents users from stumbling upon the share and having an install celebration.
  2. Next, open Active Directory Users and Computers.  Find the Organizational Unit that your computers reside.  I usually use an OU called, “All Computers” or something similar.  Use caution in putting the Group Policy at the root of the Domain as you probably don’t want to power off the servers during the night.  Right click on the OU and choose Properties.  Click on the Group Policy TAB and select New.  Call your new GPO something descriptive like, “EZ GPO Software Install”.

 

Note that you will later have a separate Group Policy for the Client Settings.  We will cover that part shortly.

 

  1. Double click on EZ GPO Software Install Group Policy.  Expand Computer Configuration > Software Settings > Software installation.  Right click on Software installation and chose New > Package.

 

 

  1. Locate the EZ GPO Installer.msi application.  Notice that I’m using a DFS share, and am not directly connecting to a physical server share or drive.

 

  1. Click Open.  Choose “Advanced published or assigned” when prompted.
  2. When the Properties are displayed, click on the “Deployment” TAB.  Click the checkbox, “Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management.”  This will make it easy to remove and install a newer version in the future.
  3. That’s it!  Computers in the OU with this Group Policy applied will receive the software.  Windows 2000 workstations will probably install the software on the first reboot.  XP machines can take a few reboots before the software is installed.  More information about why this happens (& how to prevent it) can be found here:  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305293&Product=winxp 
  4. To check to see if the software was installed successfully, check for Event 302 in the Application Log.  You should see a message like this: “The install of application EZ GPO Power Management Config Tool from policy EZ GPO Software Install succeeded.”  In addition, the following NT Service should be set to Automatic, and running:  Energy Star(TM) EZ GPO Power Management Configuration Tool

 

The next step is to install the ADM GPO template in a Client Settings Group Policy.  This will allow you to control the power management from one central location.  You install this ADM just like you would any other ADM, such as the ones for Microsoft Office, etc.

 

 

 

  1. Extract the ADM from the ZIP file and copy it to %SystemRoot%\Inf directory.
  2. From Active Directory Users and Computers, locate the OU where your users are located.  I usually have an OU called, “All Users”.  Create another Group Policy called, “EZ GPO Client Settings”

 

 

  1. Open the Group Policy by double clicking on it, expand User Configuration and right click on Administrative Templates > Add/Remove Templates.

 

  1. Click Add, and find the EZ_GPO.adm file that you added above.  Click Open, then Close to exit your way out.  It may take a few seconds to close this last window as the ADM template is loading.

 

Settings:

 

There are three main options to set:  Base Options, Options, and Simple Scheme.

 

  • Base Options is basically the ON/OFF switch.  If you want to use this Group Policy, click “Enable”.  Leave the other settings at their default.

 

  • Options > Security Override helps work around the security restrictions that prevent non-administrators from changing the power management settings.

 

 

  • Simple Scheme is where you will be making most of the changes.  This screen allows you to set when the monitor will power down, and when the computer will go into either standby or hibernate.   You can have different settings depending on whether the machine is on AC power, or on battery.

 

 

 

Testing

 

There isn’t a GUI on the client for EZ GPO.  Instead, use the Power Options Properties that are included in Windows.  Right click on the Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > Power.

 

If you use a setting in the Group Policy other than what is availably in the GUI (21 for example), then the GUI will show a blank:

 

That’s all there is to it.  With a free download and a little setup, you can start to save your company thousands of dollars each year by simply turning equipment off that is not in use.

 

If you have any questions or would like to add to this article, please email me at: 

ebrux AT mvps DOT com