Microsoft continues making Windows 11 and PCs running the OS more eco-friendly and power-conscious. The latest Windows 11 preview build from the Dev Channel contains a new Power & Battery section detailing your computer's energy consumption and battery status.
Microsoft allegedly wants to make power stats available on devices without batteries, such as traditional desktop PCs.
The updated Settings page allows customers with battery-powered Windows computers to toggle between energy usage and battery level. In addition, Microsoft wants to provide you with insights about total energy consumed and potential emissions.
It is currently unknown how the feature works—the "Total Energy" and "Emissions" fields display placeholders without actual data.
Aside from displaying the overall energy consumption, Windows 11 will provide in-depth details for every running app. This applies to both energy usage and battery level sections.
Since Microsoft has not announced the updated Power & Battery section yet, enabling it requires using a third-party app called ViVeTool. Digging up hidden and raw features always involves risks, so be sure to back up important data before proceeding.
- Download ViVeTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
- Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
- Switch Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile with the Ctrl + Shift + 2 shortcut or by clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.
- Navigate to the folder containing the ViVeTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViVeTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
- Type vivetool /enable /id:44663396,44663406 and press Enter.
- Restart your computer.
You can check out other new features in Windows 11 build 23506, such as 3D Fluent Emoji, Windows Hello improvements, the out-of-box experience enhancements, and the new Outlook app, in our dedicated coverage.
Credit for the finding goes to @PhantomOfEarth on Twitter.
