Argthtjtr

I see that there is an accepted answer, but I'll post this also, for those who aren't too comfortable using command prompt or powershell.

You can open Windows Mobility Center and choose the power plan you wish to use under Battery Status. To put it in your task-bar, once you've opened the Windows Mobility Center, right-click on the Task-bar icon and pin to task-bar. Now, it can be accessed with one click.

How to Open "Windows Mobility Center":

• Method 1: Win+s and search for mobility. Usually it is the first result, Open it, you will be able to select the power plan you want to use.


• Method 2: Win+r and type mblctr.exe.


• Method 3: Open Control Panel and go to "Hardware and Sound", under there you should see "Windows Mobility Center".(The methods mentioned previously are much faster though).
  
  

Here's a script that switches between two power plans each time you execute it (in this case "Balanced" and "Power Saver", you can freely choose any 2 power plans to switch between). Remember to put it in a ".cmd" file.

After execution it prints the activated power plan and waits for you to press a key before the console disappears. Here's the code:

@Echo off

setlocal

SET balanced=Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)

Powercfg -getactivescheme > tmp.txt

SET /p active= < tmp.txt

IF "%active%" == "%balanced%" (

Powercfg -s a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a

) ELSE (

Powercfg -s 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

)

DEL tmp.txt

endlocal

@Echo on

Powercfg -getactivescheme

PAUSE

Here's what you need to do (see image below to clarify):

1. Open Command Prompt and run Powercfg /l to get the list of your power schemes.


2. In the code above you replace the value of the balanced variable with the first of the 2 plans you want to switch between (you need the whole string)


3. Also replace the GUIDs in the IF - ELSE. The GUID in the "IF" part must be the second power plan you want to switch between; and the GUID in the "ELSE" part must be the the one you also used in the balanced variable.

Hope you can use it! :-)

PS, in case you were wondering: I write the output of Powercfg -getactivescheme to a temp file, read the first line of the temp file into a variable and delete the temp file afterwards. It seemed the easiest way to store the currently active power plan into a variable as I couldn't find a "simple" way to do it directly :-)

I used Power Buddy in Windows 8 / 8.1 since the default Power Plan Switcher only showed the two most recently used plans. It also seems to work great on Windows 10.

It's a very lightweight tray application, and seems to be developed by a Super User community member: see this answer to How do I display all power plans in Windows 7 notification area?

Open Run & enter control powercfg.cpl

You can also create a shortcut of it

The only one that I found working with the latest Windows 10 build was PowerPlanSwitcher, a free, modern-style tray app, which does exactly what you need.

Wow! with all respect to all the answers, this should be by far the easiest. Just right click on the Battery Icon in the Task Bar and choose Windows Mobility Center. Super Simple!

For those keyboard shortcut Gods, you can also do Win+X > B

You might look at the open-source Power Scheme Switcher (MIT License) and test whether it's Windows 10 compatible. Afraid I don't have a Windows 10 system to test on currently, but it's recently-enough developed (VS 2013) that I expect it supports Windows 8.1 so Windows 10 would likely not be a big stretch.

Use BatteryCare http://batterycare.net/en/download.php.
It allows you to switch or even automatically switch all your schemes.

Just press Win+X then B

Explanation: Win+X used to open Mobility Center up until Windows 8. Then they changed it to the Modern UI master system context menu. So now this menu shows up. One of the options is Mobility Center. Pressing B will select this option.

1. Create a text file.


2. Open it.


3. 
   

   Put this inside the file:

   
   
   

   setlocal
   
   SET high_performance=Power Scheme GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c  (High performance)
   
   Powercfg -getactivescheme > tmp.txt
   
   SET /p active= < tmp.txt
   
   IF "%active%" == "%high_performance%" (
   
   Powercfg -s a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a
   
   ) ELSE (
   
   Powercfg -s 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c
   
   )
   
   DEL tmp.txt
   
   endlocal
   
   

   
   



4. Save the file and rename it "power.cmd"



5. 
   

   Open the file. Done!

   
   
   

   However, for some of you the file might still open as a simple text file which means that you have file extensions hidden.
   To solve this in Windows 10:

   
   

Go to any folder

1. Press tab called "View"


2. Check the box called "File name extensions"


3. Go back to the file "power.cmd". Now it is renamed "power.cmd.txt". Rename it "power.cmd" again.


4. 
   Done! Open the file, your power plan should now switch.

There's also the "PowerBuddy" application: https://github.com/PerfectlyCromulentLtd/PowerBuddy

Seems like most of these third-party applications haven't been updated in a few years..