Member Avatar for chound

I want to change what my power off button does, but when i went to control panel -> "change what power buttons do" I can't select the drop down list at all. Its a bit greyed.

My computer is a newly bought samsung series 9 laptop running windows 7 home premium

Thanks for your help :)

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Following up to and , here are practical, low-risk steps to unlock and troubleshoot a greyed-out "Choose what the power buttons do" dropdown on a Windows 7 laptop.

First quick checks: on the "Choose what the power buttons do" page click the "Change settings that are currently unavailable" link at the top. If that does nothing, open an elevated Command Prompt (Start -> type cmd -> right-click -> Run as administrator) and run powercfg.cpl to launch Power Options with admin rights — some controls require elevation to change.

Isolate vendor software without uninstalling: run msconfig, switch to the Services tab, check "Hide all Microsoft services", and temporarily uncheck suspect vendor entries (Samsung or other OEM agents). Reboot and see if the dropdown becomes selectable. This tests whether a third-party service/startup item is overriding Windows behavior while leaving the system reversible.

Driver and ACPI checks: open Device Manager and inspect Batteries, System devices and Human Interface Devices for ACPI-related entries (ACPI Power Button, ACPI Lid, Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery). If an ACPI device is disabled or shows errors, re-enable it or uninstall and reboot so Windows redetects the device. If problems persist, consider updating chipset drivers and BIOS from the manufacturer — back up data and create a restore point before flashing firmware.

If none of the above helps, the cause may be a policy/registry restriction. Back up the registry before making changes and seek targeted guidance for those edits. These steps should help isolate whether Windows, a driver, or a third-party component is controlling the power-button options.

Member Avatar for dyrshin

See this thread:

It seems as if Samsung has an app called Fast Start that's taking over Windows native power functions. If you disable this, it might give Windows control again.

Member Avatar for chound

Thanks

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