Windows 7 Wired Network Adapter enters power save mode
Hi, I'm looking for a way to prevent my wired network adapter from entering power save mode. If I walk away from my computer for 10 minutes and when I return the network adapter has entered power save mode. It resumes fine after a short time, however I'd like to prevent this from happening. I've tried changing settings in the Power Management, unchecking the box on the network adapter that allows windows to shutdown the device to save power; neither fixed the issue. There is not an option in the BIOS that I can find that prevents the OS from managing the network adapter power settings (there are wake on lan options), so I'm not sure how to disable this. Any suggestions? (Running Windows 7 Enterprise, 64bit and this is regards to a Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection) Thanks
April 21st, 2010 10:16pm

Try update driver for your network card. Check this setting: and on advanced check Energy Star.
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April 22nd, 2010 10:47am

Hi Tallens, You can perform the steps below to disable this device from being disabled to save power: 1. Click "Start", input "Device Manager" (without quotation marks) in the Search box, and then press "Enter". 2. Double-click "Network adapters" to expand it. 3. Right click the network adapter and then click Properties. 4. On Power Management tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". 5. Click OK. Hope this helps. Regards, Linda
April 22nd, 2010 11:26am

Hello and thank you for the replies. @Jií: The device driver is the latest available. This behavior occured prior to the driver update and after the driver update. I am unclear what you are referring to when you say "advanced check Energy Star". If you mean the advanced tab of the adapter control panel shown in your example, I do not have an Energy Star checkbox there. @Linda: I have unchecked the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" and this behavior persists. Indeed, this is part of the reason I'm a bit frustrated. I thought I found the answer in the setting you suggest, but it has made no difference in the behavior. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tracy
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April 22nd, 2010 4:21pm

Is there a sample script that can do this remotely on a machine. We would like the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" to be off on all of our Windows 7 machines, but we forgot to make this change in the image (or if I remember correctly we couldn't do it, because after sysprep, it kept coming back on). So, I'm looking for a way to script this out and push it through SCCM. thanks, Azinazwright
July 28th, 2010 9:06pm

Hello and thank you for the replies. @Jií: The device driver is the latest available. This behavior occured prior to the driver update and after the driver update. I am unclear what you are referring to when you say "advanced check Energy Star". If you mean the advanced tab of the adapter control panel shown in your example, I do not have an Energy Star checkbox there. @Linda: I have unchecked the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" and this behavior persists. Indeed, this is part of the reason I'm a bit frustrated. I thought I found the answer in the setting you suggest, but it has made no difference in the behavior. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tracy I have exactly the same problem. I have Realtek updated drivers. I do not have Energy Star either - maybe Green Internet is similar? It is very annoying because it not only zaps downloads but also video streaming to my TV.
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April 23rd, 2011 12:13pm

Same thing here - Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection. The "allow this computer to turn off this device" option is NOT checked, and yet when I walk away from the computer for more than 10 minutes, my VPN drops out, backup/restore fails, and I'm logged out of my instant messenger chat windows. It's not doing it if on wireless though, but I can't work out what is different on that...
May 18th, 2011 12:42pm

Same thing here, we have numerous new Fujitsu machines running Win 7 Pro. I uncheck the "allow this computer to turn off this device" and on the next restart, the setting has reverted to ticked. all machines are fully patched, up to date AV, etc. we have data capture machines on the shop floor, with approx. 15 minutes between jobs, so when the operatives go to log on/off a job, the SQL server has lost the connection. I guess the only was is to setup a ping (server-name) -t and place in startup. although using a DOS command to "fix" windows 7 does seem a little.....hmmmm, has anyone discovered a solution yet? it is driving me nuts! Grant Dickeson IT Swansea Networks
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July 20th, 2011 12:27pm

apparently this is the registry key that controls the power saving mode on network cards. obviously back up you registry before making any adjustments, if you are not happy doing this by yourself, do not try. HKLM\system\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\parameters: DWORD: autodisconnect = Grant Dickeson IT Swansea Networks
July 20th, 2011 1:44pm

Try going into your bios and make sure that lan power save is disabled.
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May 10th, 2013 9:24am

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