Turn monitors on and off

Russ

Turn monitors off:

powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)

Turn monitors on (didn't work for me - see below):

powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,-1)

In my case, the Turn monitors on powershell command didn't work for me. My monitors turned on but then turned right back off for some reason. So instead, I used this script and made this my command line so it effectively presses the Print Scrn button to turn my monitors back on:

wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs PRTSC

Trenton Lawson

@Russ said in Turn monitors on and off:

powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport("user32.dll")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)

When I try and run the turn monitors off command, it works briefly, but my screen wakes up after maybe three seconds. While my monitors are off my keyboard and mouse flash rapidly at me. Any idea on how to fix this?

Russ

@Trenton-Lawson unfortunately I think the problem is specific to your hardware.

I get an error when running the monitor off command:

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)
Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Unexpected character '\'
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Newline in constant
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Invalid expression term ''
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : ) expected
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Invalid token '"user32.dll")]^public stati...' in
class, struct, or interface member declaration
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : Cannot add type. Compilation errors occurred.
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Add-Type], InvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : COMPILER_ERRORS,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

(Just a note: I've been using Nircmd to do this, it does the same)

Trenton Lawson

@Russ Is it possible one of my apps could be preventing it? Such as Wallpaper Engine which creates live wallpapers.

Russ

@Trenton-Lawson, it's possible because I don't know specifically why it's doing that, but I doubt that's it. It seems more like a hardware problem.

Trenton Lawson

@Russ Any idea on what piece of hardware might be causing the issue? If not no worries

Russ

@Trenton-Lawson, maybe the video card or monitor, but it might even be the motherboard because of what you told me about the keyboard and mouse flashing.

Xander

NirCMD (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html) can do this with a single command: nircmd.exe monitor off

raeyatd

someone help me!!! when I use the command 'wscript d: \ scripts \ key.vbs PRTSC' it says that the script file 'd: \ scripts \ key.vbs' could not be found.

raeyatd

@raeyatd said in Turn monitors on and off:

someone help me!!! when I use the command 'wscript d: \ scripts \ key.vbs PRTSC' it says that the script file 'd: \ scripts \ key.vbs' could not be found.

@Russ please

Russ

@raeyatd, for that to work, you'd need to have a drive with a scripts folder in the root of it, and you'd need to create the key.vbs file. If you don't have a drive, you could use your drive.

These are the contents of that key.vbs for quick reference:

Dim Wsh
Set Wsh = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Wsh.SendKeys "{" + WScript.Arguments.Item(0) +"}"

Rhadson Matias

@Russ

I have more than one monitor, can you choose which one to turn off?

Russ

@Rhadson-Matias, I don't know of any tools that can turn specific monitors off. I'll have to do some research.

At first I thought you were asking if you can shutdown a second computer. For that you could say something like this:

Alexa, turn off power on laptop.

Power is the voice word for the command on the computer with laptop as its voice word.

SniperVB

@Russ Hii, did you find a way to turn a specific monitor off? Or at least just a second screen?

Xander

"Enable/disable/configure multiple monitors on Windows"
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multi_monitor_tool.html

MultiMonitorTool.exe /disable \.\DISPLAY3

And, for single monitors, my comment from a year ago still works.

Fernando Montes Vázquez

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