This one works for me!
Unless it is woken manually by keyboard or mouse or by an application which tells it to stay awake, Windows (post XP) will resume sleep after a default of 2 minutes which overrides other timers. This is to stop Microsoft being blamed for another Dreamliner fire when your laptop wakes up in your baggage and overheats.
Application writers (e.g. Intel) are allowed to specify “keep awake” so the fire is their fault and not Microsoft’s! As a result many (e.g. Intel) don’t specify “keep awake” and thus their scheduled tasks don’t run for more than 2 mins on a sleeping computer!
This default can be changed by setting the “System unattended sleep timeout” in Power Options / Sleep. (Check that the change has “stuck”) - NOTE: This option may not appear by default*.
I changed “System unattended sleep timeout” in my “High Performance” Power option from 2 mins to 120 mins. Always.
I noticed that the dummy in my previous post was not needed.
For normal use, my choice is the “Balanced” power option with its default settings - I will only ever temporarily use the “High Performance” Power option (now with it’s 120 minute setting) when waking the unattended computer.
So my plan would be:
1) 4.00am. Every Tuesday. Windows Task Scheduler: Change Power Options setting to High Performance: (= Minimum energy savings) using:
POWERCFG -SETACTIVE SCHEME_MIN
(Sets Sleep to "Never" and “System unattended sleep timeout” to 2 hours)
2) 4.05am. Every Tuesday. Verify and repair. (Schedule a Verify at this time using the Rapid Storage Technology utility (accessed in Notification Area))
(My verify takes just under 2 hours)
3) 6.10am. Windows Task Scheduler: Change Power Options setting back to Balanced (My normal Power option) using:
POWERCFG -SETACTIVE SCHEME_BALANCED
(Will allow sleep after 2 further minutes. I have allowed an extra 10 mins after the “System unattended sleep timeout” times out at 6.00pm)
This scheme allows the RST utility to verify for 2 hours before sleep is resumed - adjust if your verify takes longer/shorter.
It presumes that you are using the non-default “System unattended sleep timeout” setting of 120 minutes in your “High Performance” Power option and that you normally use the "Balanced" Power option (with it’s “System unattended sleep timeout” set to the 2 minute default).
(Switching the sleep delay alone seems more complicated!)
I used the "every Tuesday" setting in Windows Task Scheduler and in RST Scheduler.
If Intel decide to offer the “wake and keep awake” option in their scheduler this will all be unnecessary!
* If you do not see the “System unattended sleep timeout” setting option in your Power options sleep settings then you may have to implement it. I’d recommend:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/246364-power-options-add-system-unattended-sleep-timeout.html
or Google for “System unattended sleep timeout”
Another option is to hard set the 120 minute (or whatever) value into the registry but that seemed less flexible than offering a choice in the Power options plan.