JSI Tip 7939. Your Power Schemes drop-down menu in the Power Options Properties dialog is empty?

Assuming you have the authority to modify your Power Schemes settings, the subject behavior will occur if the registry entries that control your power policies are missing or corrupt.

To workaround this problem:

1. Copy / Paste the following to a PowerPolicies.reg file:

REGEDIT4

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\]
"Name"="Home/Office Desk"
"Description"="This scheme is suited to most home or desktop computers that are left plugged in all the time."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,2c,01,00,00,32,32,00,03,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,94,f2,06,00,58,02,00,00,2c,01,00,00,08,07,00,00,58,02,00,  00,00,00,64,64,64,64,06,00

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\1\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\1\]
"Name"="Portable/Laptop"
"Description"="This scheme is designed for extended battery life for portable computers on the road."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,04,00,00,2c,01,00,00,32,32,03,03,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,84,03,00,00,2c,01,00,00,08,07,00,00,2c,01,00,  00,01,01,64,50,64,64,00,00

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\2\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\2\]
"Name"="Presentation"
"Description"="This scheme keeps the monitor on for doing presentations."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,84,03,00,00,32,32,03,02,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,2c,01,00,  00,01,01,50,50,64,64,00,00

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\3\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\3\]
"Name"="Always On"
"Description"="This scheme keeps the computer running so that it can be accessed from the network.  Use this scheme if you do not have network wakeup hardware."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,32,32,00,00,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,04,00,00,84,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,08,07,00,  00,00,01,64,64,64,64,00,00

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\4\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\4\]
"Name"="Minimal Power Management"
"Description"="This scheme keeps the computer on and optimizes it for high performance."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,2c,01,00,00,32,32,03,03,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,84,03,00,00,2c,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,84,03,00,  00,00,01,64,64,64,64,00,00

\[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\5\]
\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\5\]
"Name"="Max Battery"
"Description"="This scheme is extremely aggressive for saving power."
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,05,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b0,04,00,00,78,00,00,00,32,32,03,02,04,00,00,00,04,00,  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,84,03,00,00,3c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b4,00,00,  00,01,01,64,32,64,64,00,00

2. Merge the PowerPolicies.reg file with your registry, or run regedit /s PowerPolicies.reg.

NOTE: The 0 through 5 sub-keys of the PowerPolicies key are standard for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Your computer may have additional sub-keys provided by your OEM. Corrupt or missing entries in these OEM provided sub-keys may also cause the subject behavior. If that is the case, delete any OEM sub-key that appears to have missing Value Names.