Automatically run a command after waking up from Sleep/Standby

I came across a situation recently where I needed to have my Windows system run a command automatically every time the system woke up from Sleep/Standby/Hibernation: a custom monitor colour calibration profile was lost and needed to be explicitly restored every time the system woke up (see previous post.)

In my quick research, by no means exhaustive, I found three ways of doing this under Windows:

1. If you're (un)lucky enough to run Vista, you can set up a Task Scheduler job that reacts to a System Event
2. Alternatively, you can install a Windows utility whose exact purpose in life is to run stuff whenever you suspend or resume the system.
3. You can write a simple tool, service, or Windows script to respond to and process the Windows power events, and do whatever you need to to.

In either case, the idea is that you will run a tool or script or batch file that you create and control, and you get the system to run it.

In my case, the machine is running Vista so I first explored option 1. For my needs, it works very well. Under Vista only (as far as I can tell this is not possible under earlier versions of Windows) here are the steps to create a Task Scheduler entry to run when the system resumes:

• Run "TASKSCHD.MSC" to bring up the Task Scheduler
• From the Task Scheduler Library actions choose "Create Task"
• Fill in the General information as needed
• Under Triggers, choose New and Begin the task "On an event"
• Set basic settings Log:System, Source:Power-Troubleshooter and Event ID:1
• Click OK and go to Actions
• Set Action:Start a program, and enter the location of your script/tool
• Review the Conditions and Settings tabs and adjust as needed

Once this is done, save the task and test it by choosing "Run" with the item selected. Once this is working, test it by suspending then resuming your system, it should work!

Another alternative for all versions of Windows is Hibernate Trigger. It is a simple tool that is easy to install and configure, and doesn't require any additional information here really. Basically:

• Create your script, e.g. C:\WAKEUP.BAT
• Install and run Hibernate Trigger
• Configure it to run C:\WAKEUP.BAT on Resume

The third option is if you want to roll your own tool (similar to Hibernate Trigger probably) that responds to the Windows power events directly and does what you want. I have not investigated this option since the first two alternatives meet my needs, but there are two main options you can use:

• Old-school WIN32 programmers can process the WM_POWERBROADCAST Message (include SERVICE_ACCEPT_POWEREVENT if writing a service)
• You can also look into processing the Win32_PowerManagementEvent triggers in scripts

So those are a few solutions to meet the need of running tasks after system sleep. Most people don't need to do thise, but those that do it's a good trick to know.