How to Enable Respect Power Settings when Indexing in Windows 11

This guide will show you how to turn on or off the “Respect power settings when indexing” option in Windows 11.

What Is Indexing?

Windows indexing is a feature that scans your files and emails so you can find them quickly when you search your PC.

There are two ways Windows can index your files:

• Classic indexing
• Enhanced indexing

If you use Classic indexing, you can choose which folders or drives to include.

Why Use “Respect Power Settings When Indexing”?

One useful setting is “Respect power settings when indexing”. When this is turned on, Windows will pause indexing when your PC is in battery saver mode or other power-saving modes. This helps save your battery life.

How to Turn On or Off “Respect Power Settings When Indexing” in 🪟 Windows 11

You can turn the “Respect Power Settings When Indexing” option on or off in Windows 11 using the Settings app to control how your PC uses battery power while searching.

1. Open ⚙️ the Settings app. You can do this by clicking the ⊞ Start menu and then selecting Settings, or by pressing Windows key + I on your keyboard.

2. In ⚙️ the Settings window, click on Privacy & security on the left menu.

3. On the right side, find and click Searching Windows.

4. Under Indexing status, find the Respect power settings when indexing option.
5. Toggle the switch On to enable it or Off to disable it .

6. When you’re done, you can close ⚙️ the Settings app.

How to Change This Setting Using the Windows Registry Editor (Advanced)

If you’re comfortable with advanced settings, you can change the “Respect Power Settings When Indexing” option using the Windows Registry Editor by following these steps.

1. [ADMIN REQUIRED] Open the Registry Editor. You can learn how to open it here: Open Registry in Windows 11.
2. In the Registry Editor, go to this folder path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\Gather\Windows\SystemIndex
3. If you don’t see the SystemIndex folder, 🖱️ right-click on the Windows folder, select New > Key, and name it SystemIndex.
4. Click on the SystemIndex folder.
5. On the right side, 🖱️ right-click on an empty space and pick New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Name this new value RespectPowerModes.
7. Double-click RespectPowerModes and set the value to:

   • 1 to turn ON respecting power settings.
   • 0 to turn OFF respecting power settings.
8. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.
9. 🔄 Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Summary

Turning on “Respect Power Settings When Indexing” helps your PC save battery life by pausing searches when it’s in power-saving mode, and you can easily adjust this in Settings or the Registry Editor.