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Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Since the Productivity Center will be discontinued in Windows 7, I was looking for a different things I could launch using the ThinkVantage button. This should be something started pretty frequently. Since I like to leave my laptop working I often use the Fn+F3 shortcut to turn the monitor off (I have it set to do it immediately instead of showing the power schemes OSD). And because using a key combination will never be as easy as using one button, I decided to assign the same function to the big blue key.
So, the tool started by the ThinkVantage button is set in Windows registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001
This of course requires the Hotkey Features to be installed. However, the 8001 key won't exist if Productivity Center wasn't installed. In that case it has to be created manually. The key should contain one string value named "File", which is set to the path of the program to start when ThinkVantage is pressed.
To make it do the same thing as Fn+F3, the File has to be set to:
C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\UTILIT~1\PwmOSDV.exe
This exe is installed with the Power Manager so it has to be installed for this to work. Note also that I was testing this on Windows 7 so the V in the filename probably stands for Vista, on XP it may simply be PwmOSD.exe, I'm not sure.
There is one problem with this solution. If the Fn+F3 is set in Power Manager to pop up the power schemes list, the ThinkVantage will do the same. And since I could now easily turn the screen off using the ThinkVantage button, I wanted the Fn+F3 to pop up the schemes list.
To solve this, I started looking for a small tool that would just shut the monitor down. Such a tool could then easily be assigned to the ThinkVantage button. I found one called MonOff.
This worked but I wasn't 100% satisfied as this is a command line tool (for unknown reason as it doesn't have any arguments nor does it print anything to the console) which means it opens a black command line window each time it is started.
Because turning the screen off in C/C++ is dead easy, I rolled my own:
MonitorOff.exe
This does the same but without opening any windows. Simply save it anywhere and put the path to it into the File value of the 8001 registry key.
Now lets see what Lenovo comes up with for this key in Windows 7... until then at least I'm going to prolong my screen's life using it .
So, the tool started by the ThinkVantage button is set in Windows registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001
This of course requires the Hotkey Features to be installed. However, the 8001 key won't exist if Productivity Center wasn't installed. In that case it has to be created manually. The key should contain one string value named "File", which is set to the path of the program to start when ThinkVantage is pressed.
To make it do the same thing as Fn+F3, the File has to be set to:
C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\UTILIT~1\PwmOSDV.exe
This exe is installed with the Power Manager so it has to be installed for this to work. Note also that I was testing this on Windows 7 so the V in the filename probably stands for Vista, on XP it may simply be PwmOSD.exe, I'm not sure.
There is one problem with this solution. If the Fn+F3 is set in Power Manager to pop up the power schemes list, the ThinkVantage will do the same. And since I could now easily turn the screen off using the ThinkVantage button, I wanted the Fn+F3 to pop up the schemes list.
To solve this, I started looking for a small tool that would just shut the monitor down. Such a tool could then easily be assigned to the ThinkVantage button. I found one called MonOff.
This worked but I wasn't 100% satisfied as this is a command line tool (for unknown reason as it doesn't have any arguments nor does it print anything to the console) which means it opens a black command line window each time it is started.
Because turning the screen off in C/C++ is dead easy, I rolled my own:
MonitorOff.exe
This does the same but without opening any windows. Simply save it anywhere and put the path to it into the File value of the 8001 registry key.
Now lets see what Lenovo comes up with for this key in Windows 7... until then at least I'm going to prolong my screen's life using it .
Last edited by yak on Wed Nov 24, 2010 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ThinkPad™ X201 / AFFS-120
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Updated the MonitorOff.exe linked in the first post.
The new one turns off the ThinkLight together with the LCD. The added ThinkLight code is based on my findings from the ThinkLight mail notification thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=70226
The new one turns off the ThinkLight together with the LCD. The added ThinkLight code is based on my findings from the ThinkLight mail notification thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=70226
ThinkPad™ X201 / AFFS-120
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
This is useful! BTW, does it work on earlier models with the Access IBM button as well?
Cheers.
Cheers.
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Yes, it should.loyukfai wrote:BTW, does it work on earlier models with the Access IBM button as well?
The button registry key is documented in ThinkWiki:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_ ... 0_or_XP.29
It says it is the same for all three buttons: the old "ThinkPad" button, later "Access IBM" and the latest "ThinkVantage".
As for the MonitorOff.exe tool, the display shutdown code is pretty generic and should work everywhere. My ThinkLight code has been tested on XP, Vista and Windows 7 and works on all these three.
ThinkPad™ X201 / AFFS-120
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
i5-560M 2.67Ghz, 8GB RAM, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Win 8 Pro 64-bit, UltraBase X200, ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard,
Dell U2713HM (2560x1440, IPS), ExpressCard USB 3.0 (2 ports, flush), Nexus 7+10
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Thank you yak for your MonitorOff.exe program! It works perfectly on my Thinkpad w530 running Windows 7. I had been looking for a way to turn off the laptop screen with a single button for a while.
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- Location: leics, uk
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Doesn't seem to work, for me
Can someone check please that I'm doing this correctly?
Thank you
*edit - also tried enclosing the file path, just in case the spaces were problematic. Still no joy. Thank you.
Can someone check please that I'm doing this correctly?
Thank you
*edit - also tried enclosing the file path, just in case the spaces were problematic. Still no joy. Thank you.
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- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Your Registry entry is wrong.
It should be: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MonitorOff.exe"
including the " quotation marks.
It should be: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MonitorOff.exe"
including the " quotation marks.
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- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 8:14 am
- Location: leics, uk
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
Thanks. I tried with quotation marks first, then without - same result with both, still didn't work.RealBlackStuff wrote:Your Registry entry is wrong.
It should be: "C:\Program Files (x86)\MonitorOff.exe"
including the " quotation marks.
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- Admin Emeritus
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- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
You'll also need to correct your registry entry.
Delete your whole current 8001 entry.
Then right-click on TPHOTKEY and select New/Key, hit Enter and name it 8001.
Rright-click on 8001, then select New/String Value and name that File.
While File is highlighted, hit the Enter button, and in the new window fill in Value data: with
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MonitorOff.exe"
including the " quotation marks.
That should do it.
Delete your whole current 8001 entry.
Then right-click on TPHOTKEY and select New/Key, hit Enter and name it 8001.
Rright-click on 8001, then select New/String Value and name that File.
While File is highlighted, hit the Enter button, and in the new window fill in Value data: with
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MonitorOff.exe"
including the " quotation marks.
That should do it.
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
will it really works.or any trouble using this
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- Location: Normandy, France
Re: Solution: Using ThinkVantage button to turn off monitor.
A bit offtopic if you can forgive me, but I think it might be useful to any Linux users googling this topic up: to turn the monitor off in Linux it suffices -in most cases- to use the command . Bind it to any key (ThinkVantage or what have you) and you're done.
(BTW I know people claiming Windows is simpler to use than Linux...)
Code: Select all
xset dpms force off
(BTW I know people claiming Windows is simpler to use than Linux...)
T14amdR7-4750U/32GB/500gb.ssd/debian_testing (main driver)
X320/i7-2620M/8GB/256gb.ssd/FHD13.3''IPS/debian_testing (ex-main driver)
T30Pentium-M 4 1.8Ghz 512MB RAM - under restoration
X230/i5/8GB/500gb.hdd+256gb.m2ssd/IPS/debian_stable+win7
755CE, 486DX, approx 28MB RAM (Win95 JP)
X320/i7-2620M/8GB/256gb.ssd/FHD13.3''IPS/debian_testing (ex-main driver)
T30Pentium-M 4 1.8Ghz 512MB RAM - under restoration
X230/i5/8GB/500gb.hdd+256gb.m2ssd/IPS/debian_stable+win7
755CE, 486DX, approx 28MB RAM (Win95 JP)
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