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         


        

Answer 1

I've added a notification that you can easily enable / disable just setting its variable to $true or $false. Also the mouse cursor moves 1 px right and then 1 px left so it basically stays in the same place even after several iterations.

# Lines needed for the notification
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms 
$isNotificationOn = $true

$secondsBetweenMouseMoves = 6
$Pos = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position
$PosDelta = 1
$logFilename = "previousMouseMoverAction.txt"
$errorLogFilename = "mouseMoverLog.txt"

if (!(Test-Path "$PSScriptRoot\$logFilename")) {
   New-Item -path $PSScriptRoot -name $logFilename -type "file" -value "right"
   Write-Host "Warning: previousMouseMoverAction.txt missing, created a new one."
}

$previousPositionChangeAction = Get-Content -Path $PSScriptRoot\$logFilename

if ($previousPositionChangeAction -eq "left") {
    $PosDelta = 1
    Set-Content -Path $PSScriptRoot\$logFilename -Value 'right'
} else {
    $PosDelta = -1
    Set-Content -Path $PSScriptRoot\$logFilename -Value 'left'
}

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $secondsBetweenMouseMoves; $i++) {
    [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = New-Object System.Drawing.Point((($Pos.X) + $PosDelta) , $Pos.Y)
    if ($isNotificationOn) {
        # Sending a notification to the user
        $global:balloon = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
        $path = (Get-Process -id $pid).Path
        $balloon.Icon = [System.Drawing.Icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($path) 
        $balloon.BalloonTipIcon = [System.Windows.Forms.ToolTipIcon]::Warning 
        $balloon.BalloonTipText = 'I have just moved your cheese...'
        $balloon.BalloonTipTitle = "Attention, $Env:USERNAME" 
        $balloon.Visible = $true 
        $balloon.ShowBalloonTip(3000)
    }
}

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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 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

Try this: (source: http://just-another-blog.net/programming/powershell-and-the-net-framework/)

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms 

$position = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position  
$position.X++  
[System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = $position 

    while(1) {  
    $position = [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position  
    $position.X++  
    [System.Windows.Forms.Cursor]::Position = $position  

    $time = Get-Date;  
    $shorterTimeString = $time.ToString("HH:mm:ss");  

    Write-Host $shorterTimeString "Mouse pointer has been moved 1 pixel to the right"  
    #Set your duration between each mouse move
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 150  
    }  

Answer 6

<# 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!