powershell mouse move does not prevent idle mode

Question

Before I start, here is my very first little code I wrote in PowerShell :)

[System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = `
    New-Object System.Drawing.Point($pos.X, ($pos.Y - 1))
[System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = `
    New-Object System.Drawing.Point($pos.X, $pos.Y)

What do I want to achieve?

Well, I want to move the mouse cursor every 4 minutes to prevent the screensaver from appearing (every second in the code above for testing). The code does really move the mouse every time one pixel up and then down immediately. The thing is, the screensaver (or idle mode of windows) is still appearing.

Now, I am learning PowerShell and I have little experience with the Windows architecture.

Does anybody see my mistake? I would appreciate an answer a lot! :D Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

There is an analog solution to this also. There's an android app called "Timeout Blocker" that vibrates at a set interval and you put your mouse on it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isomerprogramming.application.timeoutblocker&hl=en

Answer 2

<# Stay Awake by Frank Poth 2019-04-16 #>

(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Stay Awake"

[System.Console]::BufferWidth  = [System.Console]::WindowWidth  = 40
[System.Console]::BufferHeight = [System.Console]::WindowHeight = 10

$shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell

$start_time = Get-Date -UFormat %s <# Get the date in MS #>
$current_time = $start_time
$elapsed_time = 0

Write-Host "I am awake!"

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

$count = 0

while($true) {

  $shell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}") <# Fake some input! #>

  if ($count -eq 8) {

    $count = 0
    Clear-Host

  }

  if ($count -eq 0) {

    $current_time = Get-Date -UFormat %s
    $elapsed_time = $current_time - $start_time

    Write-Host "I've been awake for "([System.Math]::Round(($elapsed_time / 60), 2))" minutes!"

  } else { Write-Host "Must stay awake..." }

  $count ++

  Start-Sleep -Seconds 2.5

}

The part that matters is $shell.sendkeys("{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}") This registers two presses on the numlock key and fools the shell into thinking input was entered. I wrote this today after searching through various scripts that didn't work for me. Hope it helps someone!

Answer 3

I had a similar situation where a download needed to stay active overnight and required a key press that refreshed my connection. I also found that the mouse move does not work. However, using notepad and a send key function appears to have done the trick. I send a space instead of a "." because if there is a [yes/no] popup, it will automatically click the default response using the spacebar. Here is the code used.

param($minutes = 120)

$myShell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $minutes; $i++) {
  Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
  $myShell.sendkeys(" ")
}

This function will work for the designated 120 minutes (2 Hours), but can be modified for the timing desired by increasing or decreasing the seconds of the input, or increasing or decreasing the assigned value of the minutes parameter.

Just run the script in powershell ISE, or powershell, and open notepad. A space will be input at the specified interval for the desired length of time ($minutes).

Good Luck!

Answer 4

I created a PS script to check idle time and jiggle the mouse to prevent the screensaver.

There are two parameters you can control how it works.

$checkIntervalInSeconds : the interval in seconds to check if the idle time exceeds the limit

$preventIdleLimitInSeconds : the idle time limit in seconds. If the idle time exceeds the idle time limit, jiggle the mouse to prevent the screensaver

Here we go. Save the script in preventIdle.ps1. For preventing the 4-min screensaver, I set $checkIntervalInSeconds = 30 and $preventIdleLimitInSeconds = 180.

Add-Type @'
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace PInvoke.Win32 {

    public static class UserInput {

        [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=false)]
        private static extern bool GetLastInputInfo(ref LASTINPUTINFO plii);

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private struct LASTINPUTINFO {
            public uint cbSize;
            public int dwTime;
        }

        public static DateTime LastInput {
            get {
                DateTime bootTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMilliseconds(-Environment.TickCount);
                DateTime lastInput = bootTime.AddMilliseconds(LastInputTicks);
                return lastInput;
            }
        }

        public static TimeSpan IdleTime {
            get {
                return DateTime.UtcNow.Subtract(LastInput);
            }
        }

        public static double IdleSeconds {
            get {
                return IdleTime.TotalSeconds;
            }
        }

        public static int LastInputTicks {
            get {
                LASTINPUTINFO lii = new LASTINPUTINFO();
                lii.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(LASTINPUTINFO));
                GetLastInputInfo(ref lii);
                return lii.dwTime;
            }
        }
    }
}
'@

Add-Type @'
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace MouseMover
{
    public class MouseSimulator
    {
        [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern uint SendInput(uint nInputs, ref INPUT pInputs, int cbSize);
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
        public static extern bool GetCursorPos(out POINT lpPoint);

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        struct INPUT
        {
            public SendInputEventType type;
            public MouseKeybdhardwareInputUnion mkhi;
        }
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
        struct MouseKeybdhardwareInputUnion
        {
            [FieldOffset(0)]
            public MouseInputData mi;

            [FieldOffset(0)]
            public KEYBDINPUT ki;

            [FieldOffset(0)]
            public HARDWAREINPUT hi;
        }
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        struct KEYBDINPUT
        {
            public ushort wVk;
            public ushort wScan;
            public uint dwFlags;
            public uint time;
            public IntPtr dwExtraInfo;
        }
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        struct HARDWAREINPUT
        {
            public int uMsg;
            public short wParamL;
            public short wParamH;
        }
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        public struct POINT
        {
            public int X;
            public int Y;

            public POINT(int x, int y)
            {
                this.X = x;
                this.Y = y;
            }
        }
        struct MouseInputData
        {
            public int dx;
            public int dy;
            public uint mouseData;
            public MouseEventFlags dwFlags;
            public uint time;
            public IntPtr dwExtraInfo;
        }

        [Flags]
        enum MouseEventFlags : uint
        {
            MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE = 0x0001
        }
        enum SendInputEventType : int
        {
            InputMouse
        }
        public static void MoveMouseBy(int x, int y) {
            INPUT mouseInput = new INPUT();
            mouseInput.type = SendInputEventType.InputMouse;
            mouseInput.mkhi.mi.dwFlags = MouseEventFlags.MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE;
            mouseInput.mkhi.mi.dx = x;
            mouseInput.mkhi.mi.dy = y;
            SendInput(1, ref mouseInput, Marshal.SizeOf(mouseInput));
        }
    }
}
'@

$checkIntervalInSeconds = 30
$preventIdleLimitInSeconds = 180

while($True) {
    if (([PInvoke.Win32.UserInput]::IdleSeconds -ge $preventIdleLimitInSeconds)) {
        [MouseMover.MouseSimulator]::MoveMouseBy(10,0)
        [MouseMover.MouseSimulator]::MoveMouseBy(-10,0)
    }
    Start-Sleep -Seconds $checkIntervalInSeconds
}

Then, open Windows PowerShell and run

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File C:\SCRIPT-DIRECTORY-PATH\preventIdle.ps1

Answer 5

The solution from the blog Prevent desktop lock or screensaver with PowerShell is working for me. Here is the relevant script, which simply sends a single period to the shell:

param($minutes = 60)

$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $minutes; $i++) {
  Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
  $myshell.sendkeys(".")
}

and an alternative from the comments, which moves the mouse a single pixel:

$Pos = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position
[System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = New-Object System.Drawing.Point((($Pos.X) + 1) , $Pos.Y)
$Pos = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position
[System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = New-Object System.Drawing.Point((($Pos.X) - 1) , $Pos.Y)

Answer 6

I tried a mouse move solution too, and it likewise didn't work. This was my solution, to quickly toggle Scroll Lock every 4 minutes:

Clear-Host
Echo "Keep-alive with Scroll Lock..."

$WShell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"

while ($true)
{
  $WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
  Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
  $WShell.sendkeys("{SCROLLLOCK}")
  Start-Sleep -Seconds 240
}

I used Scroll Lock because that's one of the most useless keys on the keyboard. Also could be nice to see it briefly blink every now and then. This solution should work for just about everyone, I think.

See also:

• https://ss64.com/vb/sendkeys.html
• http://devguru.com/content/technologies/wsh/wshshell-sendkeys.html