Where are the power settings?
Power is the most inconsistently named group on desktop systems, and the names are a short history of what people worried about. We read the settings tree of all 43 systems in the catalogue and recorded where each one keeps it.
What each system calls it
15 of the 43 operating systems in our catalogue have this setting, and between them they use six different labels for it:
| Name on screen | Systems |
|---|---|
| Power | 6 |
| Energy Saver | 2 |
| Power Options | 2 |
| Power Management | 1 |
| Energy saver | 1 |
| Power Saving mode | 1 |
| Power & battery | 1 |
| Power options | 1 |
The most common is Power, on 6 of the 15. If that is not the word on your screen, the table above is the rest of the vocabulary to try.
Some of those rows differ only in capitalisation — 8 spellings for six actual names. We have kept them apart because that is what is printed on the screen, and a settings search that matches case will tell them apart too.
Where it lives on each system
These are the shortest paths from the first settings screen on the newest release of each system. 14 of the 15 are within two taps; the rest sit deeper, and the table shows how much deeper.
| System | Path | Taps |
|---|---|---|
| Mac OS 9 9.2 | Energy Saver | 1 |
| Mac OS X 10.6 | Energy Saver | 1 |
| Steam Deck SteamOS 3.8 | Power | 1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Power | 1 |
| Windows 98 98 SE | Power Management | 1 |
| ChromeOS 151 | System preferences › Power | 2 |
| Google TV 14 | Device Preferences › Energy saver | 2 |
| HarmonyOS 6.0 | Battery › Power Saving mode | 2 |
| Meta Quest v81 | Device › Power | 2 |
| Roku OS Roku OS 16 | System › Power | 2 |
| Windows 11 | System › Power & battery | 2 |
| Windows 7 SP1 | System and Security › Power Options | 2 |
| Windows XP SP3 | Performance and Maintenance › Power Options | 2 |
| Xbox 2608 | General › Power options | 2 |
| Garmin System 20 | Sensors and Accessories › Add New › Power | 3 |
Each system name above opens the real menu in the simulator, so you can walk the path before you touch your own device.
Why the names came out this way
Energy Saver is an environmental framing from an era when desktops ran all day. Power Options is administrative. Power Management is the enterprise word. Power & battery is the modern merger, acknowledging that the same screen now serves a laptop and a phone.
On portable systems this group has largely been absorbed into battery; on desktops it survives because a machine with no battery still needs to know when to sleep.
Find it on your own device
If your system is not in the table, or the label on your screen is different again, there are three ways through it:
- Search every system at once for a setting by name — it looks inside all 43 trees, not just the one you are holding.
- Open your own system in the settings simulator and click to the screen without changing anything real.
- Follow the step-by-step guide to battery life, or see where that setting lives on every system.
Related settings in the same part of the menu:
- Where is the always-on display setting?
- Where is the refresh rate setting?
- Where is the battery saver setting?
All of it comes from the same catalogue: 43 systems, 135 versions, published as an open dataset.
Try it yourself, on the real menusOpen any of 43 operating systems in your browser and walk the Settings tree exactly as it appears on the device. No download, no account.Frequently asked questions
Where are the power settings on most systems?
On 14 of the 15 systems that have it, within two taps of the first settings screen. The most common label is “Power”, used by 6 of them. The table above gives the exact path for each system.
Why can I not find it by searching my settings?
Because settings search matches the label your system uses, and there are six different labels in use for this one setting. Searching for the word your previous device used is the single most common reason a setting appears to be missing.
How many systems have this setting at all?
15 of the 43 operating systems we catalogue. The rest either have no hardware for it or fold the behaviour into something else, which is why a feature that feels universal often is not.