Power Manager

  • Article

The power manager is responsible for managing power usage for the system. It administers the system-wide power policy and tracks the path of power IRPs through the system.

The power manager requests power operations by sending IRP_MJ_POWER requests to drivers. A request can specify a new power state or can query whether a change in power state is feasible.

When sleep, hibernation, or shut down is required, the power manager requests the appropriate power action by sending an IRP_MJ_POWER request to each leaf node in the device tree. The power manager considers the following:

  • System activity level

  • System battery level

  • Sleep, hibernation, or shut down requests from applications

  • User actions, such as pressing the power button

  • Control panel settings

For more information, see Windows Kernel-Mode Power Manager.