I have the computer set to sleep after 5 minutes, needs to be that way for various reasons. The burning and verification of a DVD take over 20 minutes. Is there a way to prevent sleep during this process, since it aborts the burn process?

Thanks

Acer laptop, Vista Home Premium 32 bit

Yeah, go to High performance setting- the default for this is not to sleep (plugged in). If you changed it, change it back.
Use this when you burn, Watch Videos, Play games, etc.



defaults:

Thanks for the reply.

If I am understanding you correctly, you are suggesting that I then select High Perf whenever I am about to burn a disk, and change it back after the burn? If so, that is not what I am asking for here.

I am wondering if there is a way to tell Vista that burning a disk is a priority function and not to enter sleep mode when burning is in process. Perhaps a registry change??

Thanks

The app you're using to burn should be calling the SetThreadExecutionState() API to let the OS know not to change power state until further notice. Without that, if the processor utilisation is sufficiently low there's no particular reason not to go sleepy bye-byes.

What app are you using to burn, and why are these burns taking so long anyway?

It just so happens I was working on something similar earlier today so I've got an idea for you if you want to continue using that app and you're not afraid of a bit of C (or other language of your choice).

You can create a wrapper process to call SetThreadExecutionState first, invoke the burn app, and then hang around until the burn app process is terminated. While the wrapper is running, the box won't go to sleep, and the wrapper will continue to run until the burn app exits. The wrapper in pseudocode:

int main(void) {

HANDLE hBurnAppHandle;
SetThreadExecutionState(STAY_AWAKE); // keeps the box awake
hBurnApp = CreateProcess("TheBurnApp"); // starts the burn app
WaitForSingleObject(hBurnAppHandle); // wait for the app process to terminate
return 0;

}

I checked the threads linked to above, the first one did not address this, the second one I looked at the first 10 pages only. It seems more about not going to sleep than going to sleep when the computer is still being used.

H2S04, thanks but wrappers and programming languages are foreign languages to me.

Originally Posted by H2SO4

The app you're using to burn should be calling the SetThreadExecutionState() API to let the OS know not to change power state until further notice. Without that, if the processor utilisation is sufficiently low there's no particular reason not to go sleepy bye-byes.

What app are you using to burn, and why are these burns taking so long anyway?

This sounds like it could be the issue here. I am using Nero Express, an older version that is said to be Vista compatible, but maybe it is missing the boat here. Any other ideas how to check this?

As far as the time needed, it is a laptop, burns DVD's at only 8x, and with verification takes close to 20 minutes.

Thanks

Regrettably, there's no need to check whether Nero's calling that API because the fact that the machine goes to sleep means it's not. While a process which called that API (the right way) remains running, the OS does not go to sleep.

Never versions of Nero might do it right, but unless you can find something to that effect in the documentation I wouldn't be tempted to spend money on a gamble that an upgrade would help.

If you like, I'll write a wrapper for you so that instead of starting Nero directly you start the wrapper and it in turn starts Nero. Of course, you shouldn't trust me, and the compiled wrapper binary should first be subjected to a battery of anti-virus tests at your end. I'm only semi-joking

It's sleep time for me presently but I'll have a play with that wrapper when I get a chance and post it back here.

Here's a small wrapper executable that you can use to start any app which you want to keep the machine awake. To use it, specify the full path of the executable to start:

C:\STESwrap> STESwrap.exe c:\windows\notepad.exe

Put quotes around the entire path if there are spaces:

C:\STESwrap> STESwrap.exe "c:\Program Files\Nero\Nero.exe"

If you put the STESwrap executable in the same directory as the target, you don't need to specify the full path - only the target EXE name. You can also create a batch file on your desktop, for example, with the suitable command line as the contents of the BAT file, and then start the whole shebang by just double-clicking the batch file.

The STESwrap process will continue to run while the app it started is running, and in doing so it should keep the machine awake. Once you close the target app, STESwrap will disappear and the box should be able to sleep again.

The code (change the extension to .c) and the compiled executable: