Prevent Windows sleep command when television recording is in progress?

[Agama]

Hi! Is there a way to prevent a Windows system command to put the system to sleep when NextPVR is in the middle of recording a television show? I use it as the backend for Kodi (I recently upgraded it to 16.1), which I started using about 8 or 9 months ago after Microsoft just about abandoned Windows Media Center.

Quick background on why I'm asking: I have the hardware button on our HTPC's case set up to put the system to sleep. If someone accidentally presses the wrong button on our Harmony remote, it will trigger our HTPC to go to sleep while the remote turns on another device. OR, if our little toddler decides once again to press the big glowing power button on the front of the case, it again goes to sleep. Most of the time, that's not a big deal, but if NextPVR happened to be recording a show at the time, it stops doing so, and the system proceeds to go to sleep, leaving me with a partial recording.

Previously, when WMC was in the middle of a recording, my system would ignore the power/sleep command. Is there anyway to configure NextPVR or my HTPC in general to have that same behavior when NextPVR is recording? I originally asked this on the Kodi forums, not realizing that the answer might actually lie with NextPVR since I'm still pretty new to using both. One person recommended using the old utility MCE Standby Tool, and I didn't know if I would need to resort to that.

Thanks!

[gEd]

Welcome!

NextPVR already tells windows to stay awake but it cannot (or at least currently does not) prevent a user from putting the PC to sleep themselves.

I have my harmony one remote set to power on pc for the "NextPVR" activity but repeating the same activity will not send the pc back to sleep. (can't remember precisely what the settings are in the harmony remote software but it can be done).

In windows you can have it ignore the power button (or put some tape over it!) - check the bios settings as well.

then just configure windows to go to sleep after X mins of inactivity (nextPVR will keep it awake during this time). I have mine set for 20mins.

HTH

[liteswap]

Yes, this is what I do: disable the sleep button (Control Panel-->Power plans) so if the power button on the remote is pressed by accident while the PVR is on, nothing happens. It still works to wake it up. Then allow the PVR to sleep after a set period. I've been using a 10-minute timeout for years without problems.

[Agama]

Hmm, thanks for the input! I'd rather not tinker with the function of the power button, as my HTPC doesn't always turn off properly after a recording (though it often does)*. I suppose that's where the MCE Standby Tool can come in handy, and I might still need to look into it, though it's age makes me hesitate. So, I like having the power button still trigger sleep mode, as I can do that easily via remote or by pressing the button on the case of the computer. If I turn off that ability, then it takes a few more steps to get the HTPC to sleep, since I have to hunt down my wireless keyboard, turn on my television, and go the Windows menu option to put it to sleep. I was hoping that maybe there was a simple configuration option to get NextPVR and/or Kodi to act like Windows Media Center in how it prevents the system from sleeping if someone tries to trigger sleep.


*My leading theory as to why it sometimes stays awake when it isn't supposed to is that the Plex server running on the same box sees another PC up and running on my network and keeps the HTPC awake in case it needs to serve up a show to one of the other computer.