Solved Enable/Disable Airplane Mode with CMD or shortcut?

[jimski]

You can't run the third party EXE on RT, so the Autoit script from the tutorial won't work.

As I only use my Surface every few days, my other option is to keep it plugged in 24/7.

Then use hibernation. Configure all power plans to your preference. E.g. if it goes to sleep after 30 minutes, set it to hibernate after 35 or whatever. See also http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...u-add-remove-sleep-hibernate-windows-8-a.html

That way your tablet won't discharge while you don't use it for days. You'd have to wait for it to come from hibernation a little longer than from connected standby, but then you won't have to mess with the airplane mode

Shawn, you can't do it with CMD on RT, but sending keys with VBS might work, unless VBS is crippled on RT (and I'd suspect just that

Thanks for the suggestion. That would be an option, but RT only shows three options in power settings; Do Nothing, Sleep or Shut Down. It uses Connected Standby, which is a really nice idea if you use your tablet every day (and charge it every night) like my Windows Phone. But for occasional use it's troublesome. I turned off all the background tasks, but Wi-Fi remains on (unless you toggle it off) when the device is asleep, checking for updates, etc. My Surface RT will last about three days on a full charge without use. (The 250 hour standby claim is with everything turned off, just like a smartphone). Problem is, I usually get around to needing it on the second or third day only to find that I have 10-20% of battery remaining. So I have to use my portable tablet tethered to a power cord. Other problem is disabling the background tasks to save battery when sleeping, also disables them when the device is awake. So the mail tile, along with several other apps won't update unless I open them. All Microsoft needs to do is provide a switch that turns off Wi-Fi when the device is asleep, or maybe only turn on for a few seconds every two hours (that's how WP7.5 works by default-no option for persistent WiFi-that came with WP8) to check mail/updates, etc. When I wake my RT from sleep, WiFi can turn back on and everything can start updating. That's how my ASUS W8 works, and it can go 10-12+ days on a charge without use. Make it an option so power RT users don't lose any functionality.

Until Microsoft comes to their senses, a single button click to turn airplane mode (or only wifi) on/off would be a lifesaver. Sucks that I have to go through multiple taps and menus each time I need to toggle. The flyout shortcut is a big help. It's already right next to the desktop icon on my Start Menu. There were only two things I didn't like about the RT; low volume and no WiFi/Connected Standby auto-off. They fixed the volume problem with the latest update. Hopefully a Wi-Fi solution is not far behind. Fingers crossed.

 

[Vadikan]

Jim, it's hard to tell which features are available on RT without having the device Looks like my hibernate path is a no-go, but let's look at the results of

powercfg -a

Meanwhile, if preserving the battery charge is the top priority, you can simply turn off the device. I assume it boots pretty quickly.

 

[jimski]

Here is info you requested. There goes that connected standby again. Would be nice if that could be disabled in the registry with a simple 1/0. But I assume it's a bit more complicated than that. UPDATE: Looks like according to MS, Connected Standby CANNOT be disabled. Oh well.

Regarding powering the Surface RT down to save battery power, that sort of defeats the tablet concept. I'm am not suggesting "instant on" is a bad thing. In fact I love it. I am suggesting though that "connected standby" may not be everyone's preference, and therefore I should have an option to disable it when I need to. I have that option on my ASUS notebook, but there is no option on the RT device. Actually, based on my usage pattern, half the time I take my Surface out of my bag, I am powering it up cold, after I recharge it's dead battery for 5-6 hours. Cool boot time is about the same as most typical Windows 8 machines.

Depending on the number of background apps active on the RT, battery drain while sleeping runs between 1% & 2% per hour. Forgot to check the battery status last night when I toggled Airplane Mode on, but I believe I lost somewhere between 0% and 5% while the RT was in my bag for 16 hours. I will do a more controlled test tonight.

A good alternative would be a pair of tiles on the Start Screen to toggle Airplane Mode on/off. More work for users, but the same result. Either option would most likely collectively save hundreds of Kw per year in wasted battery charging for all the RT users plagued by this issue.

 

[Vadikan]

Jim, thanks for the screenshot. Now it's totally clear that the platform doesn't support hibernation.

Regarding powering the Surface RT down to save battery power, that sort of defeats the tablet concept. I'm am not suggesting "instant on" is a bad thing. In fact I love it. I am suggesting though that "connected standby" may not be everyone's preference, and therefore I should have an option to disable it when I need to.

Yeah, powering off defeats the tablet concept all right, but keeping the tablet on for a few days without using it defeats the concept just as much The whole purpose of connected standby is that your apps get updates (e-mail, messages, tweets, etc) while you're not using the device. Once you're back to using it, everything is right there.

Now, with Airplane Mode you effectively kill the whole idea of connected standby. So why do you keep the device powered on then? Just to save half a minute on the boot time? Then a couple of swipes needed to access the Airplane Mode setting should not be that bad, if you perform it once in a few days.

There's no way to disable connected standby, as it's a replacement for sleep. Neither you can manage Airplane Mode in the registry.

 

[jimski]

Good point. Yes, I am defeating the advantages of Connected Standby by disconnecting my Surface But as I have already seen 99.9% of those background updates on my smartphone, before I reconnect my Surface, not a big loss. Powering off/on is just to 90ish for me to swallow. Tonight I will run a few controlled tests to determine the time difference between a cold boot and wake from sleep/disable Airplane Mode. Experience tells me it will be significant.

Don't want to be misunderstood here. Connected Standby is a good thing. I really look forward to it on the (always plugged in) Xbox One, so I don't have to sit and wait for updates each time I open an app. But as usual, Microsoft is a bit ahead of the curve (despite what the critics say). Until everyone has a Gen 2, universally compatible, wireless charging pad in their home/office/etc., and every one of their devices supports wireless charging, and battery technology has taken a giant leap forward, Connected Standby will not be everyone's cup of tea. For now, daily overnight tethering to a power source is the only viable option. Until my futuristic view is realized though, I believe Microsoft should have provided an easy alternative to conserve energy, while still providing the benefits of Instant On/Connected on Wake.

Hey, the complainers (not me) got their beloved Start button back. Maybe conventional Standby is next. Thanks for your input and comments.

 

[Vadikan]

But as usual, Microsoft is a bit ahead of the curve (despite what the critics say).

Exactly! The OS is supported for 10 years. You don't want it to be out of date in three...

Hey, the complainers (not me) got their beloved Start button back. Maybe conventional Standby is next.

Hahaha! I'm pretty sure they meant Start menu, so be careful what you wish for

 

[jimski]

Did some start up testing on my Surface RT last night. Performed each test three times and used an average (although all times were +/- a couple seconds). All times are cumulative form start. Prior to each test I sent an email to a push account via my phone and verified on my phone that it had been received.

Test #1 - Cold boot w/Airplane Mode off: Power on, swipe up lockscreen, enter password, wait for Mail tile to display message
28 sec from power on to password entry screen - 45 sec to Start screen - 60 sec to message displayed

Test #2 - Wake w/Airplane Mode on: Power on (wake), swipe up lockscreen, tap Network flyout shortcut (Brink's creation) on Start Menu, tap Airplane Mode slider to turn off, pause to see that WiFi connected, tap Windows button to return to Start Screen, wait for Mail tile to display message
13 sec to wake, tap, toggle and return to Start Screen - 19 sec to message displayed
(NOTE: I don't use a password on wake - that would add another 5-7 seconds to the time)

So waking and re-enabling WiFi is three times faster than a cold boot. Not as fast to get your mail messages with Connected Standby, but not bad for the battery drain trade off, sort of. I also tested battery drain with Airplane Mode on yesterday and it appears that the Surface RT drains at 0.5% per hour while sleeping. That's vs. 1 to 1.5% per hour with Airplane Mode off, depending on the number of background tasks active. I checked my device after 16 hours (8% drain) and 24 hours (12% drain), so this is a pretty reliable number. Don't think there was that much maintenance going on while asleep, and as the number was consistent, I assume Connected Standby was trying to call home every X seconds/minutes, which caused the drain.

Overall, I am pleased with the current setup. My Surface RT can be in my bag for three days and it will still be usable to showoff or enjoy. If Brink can come up with a pair of toggles, using batch files or registry edits (they both work on an RT) , or something else vs. EXE (can't run on RT), I could probably save another 5 seconds at startup. I know, splitting hairs. But every little bit helps.

 

[semenvictor]

I just remembered why I used AutoIt to begin with was due to the :winkey: key limitation in VBS not being able to use :winkey: + I in the script to open the Settings charm.

I doubt that a .bat file would work either in RT.

Dear Brink
Would you please send a .bat file to me?

 

[Brink]

I just remembered why I used AutoIt to begin with was due to the :winkey: key limitation in VBS not being able to use :winkey: + I in the script to open the Settings charm.

I doubt that a .bat file would work either in RT.

Dear Brink
Would you please send a .bat file to me?

I have this:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24541-airplane-mode-off-shortcuts-create-windows-8-a.html

 

[Anakunda]

Here you go Rene.

Fresh out of the tutorial oven. I hope they will work for what you wanted.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24541-airplane-mode-off-shortcuts-create-windows-8-a.html

This is not working good for me. Fails most of times.

Whch is inteneded for my Windows, windows or update?

I would appreciate a true cmd command to do this.

 

[Brink]

Here you go Rene.

Fresh out of the tutorial oven. I hope they will work for what you wanted.

This is not working good for me. Fails most of times.

Whch is inteneded for my Windows, windows or update?

I would appreciate a true cmd command to do this.

Please describe what it's doing for you.

 

[Anakunda]

Huh, it just opens the sidebar and gives up. The shortcuts are crappy for me.

But I managed this, using Quick Macros to execute the keyboard sequence

Win+I
Down
Down
Down
Down
Enter
Down
Right
Esc

Done

 

[badjer]

Here you go Rene.

Fresh out of the tutorial oven. I hope they will work for what you wanted.

I tried accessing the link but:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.
3. The page has been removed or deleted

if the page is deleted, does anyone have the mentioned files to share?

 

[Brink]

Hello badjer, and welcome to Eight Forums.

I'm sorry, but yeah the tutorial had been removed since the shortcuts no longer work.

 

[senturion]

Here you go Rene.

Fresh out of the tutorial oven. I hope they will work for what you wanted.

https://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24541-airplane-mode-off-shortcuts-create-windows-8-a.html

I found this from searching Bing because I want to do the same thing - enable or disable Airplane mode or my wireless NIC when the tablet goes to sleep. I can't view your tutorial, but I found I could do this easily enough with two schedule tasks.

One task to enable airplane mode when the tablet has gone to sleep and locked (trigger is when workstation locked) to run this command with highest privileges:

netsh interface set interface name="Wi-Fi" admin = disabled

And another scheduled task to trigger when the workstation is unlocked to run this to disable airplane mode:

netsh interface set interface name="Wi-Fi" admin = enabled

I've tested this so far and it seems to work great. I can view on the lock screen that the WiFi has disabled, and when I unlock the WiFi turns back on.

 

[Brink]

 

[BTattacked]

How come the page with the turn airplane mode off.exe is not available? Only utility claiming to be able to do so programmatically. No, it is not a simple matter, NO SOLUTION in days and airplane mode is still on and only wifi goes out and not even Bluetooth setting open up... and furthermore I get here a message about permission in this account? Airplane mode is more than an API call, it is a full SOMETHING Windows does under the hood but can be bypassed by wifi and keep BLUETOOTH off. It is not the responsibility of the vendor nor the card vendor, it is responsibility of Windows to solve this matter. - Every laptop has a different fn key setup shortcut for this, the problem here is deep in the OS.

 

[Brink]

Hello BTattacked,

Try now.

Airplane Mode On or Off Shortcuts - Create in Windows 8