'Power options' error disappears

Serdar Yegulalp, Contributor

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Windows XP, like many other versions of Windows, allows you create custom profiles for power management and save them under user-defined names. You can do this through the Power Options section of the Control Panel, which typically also has a number of pre-defined power management profiles (such as Always On, Portable/Laptop, and Home/Office Desktop).

When you change the options for the current power scheme, you can either save them under a new name by clicking the Save As button or simply click Apply to save them under the current power scheme. However, sometimes when you try to use Save As to save changes to a custom power scheme under the same name, the following error dialog appears:

Power Policy Manager unable to set policy
Indicates two revision levels are incompatible.

If this happens, there's a simple workaround:

  1.  

  2. Close the Power Options panel and reopen it.
  3. Select the custom power scheme you're trying to modify from the drop-down list of power schemes.
  4. Click Delete to remove it entirely.
  5. Close the Power Options panel and reopen it once more.
  6. Re-create the custom settings for your power scheme.
  7. Click Save As to re-save the settings using the name you chose before (or an entirely new name if you'd like).

This rather cryptic error persists through all revisions of Windows XP, up to and including Service Pack 2. Microsoft has in fact confirmed it's a problem and has a Knowledge Base article about it, but exact details as to why it happens are elusive.

 

Serdar Yegulalp is editor of The Windows Power Users Newsletter. Check it out for the latest advice and musings on the world of Windows network administrators -- and please share your thoughts as well!

This was first published in July 2005

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