Turn Computer Off Or Leave It On

vanp · 26 Aug 2018

People keep mentioning stuff that doesn't apply to me. It's just a simple, single, desktop home computer with one disk drive. No laptop, server, wi-fi, LAN, WAN, WoL, anything else you people want to bring up. Nothing (like WoL) enabled. Nothing (like UAC) disabled. There's absolutely nothing special going on. I'm not smart enough to do anything special.

Concerning the hiberfil.sys file used by the hibernation process, this file is over 3 GB. Assuming the system would even let me, can I delete this thing; will the system re-create it if it needed it? (In theory, I'm the Administrator of this computer, but that doesn't mean much to M$.) I love freeing up disk space and deleting anything that's not needed. If this thing is used/needed only by the Hibernate process and I don't do that then the file doesn't need to exist. This file apparently was created about the time I started looking into this issue.

Thanks.

Bree · 26 Aug 2018

vanp said:

Concerning the hiberfil.sys file used by the hibernation process, this file is over 3 GB. Assuming the system would even let me, can I delete this thing...

Yes. In a Command Prompt (Admin) type powercfg /hibernate off
This will delete the hiberfil.sys and turn off both hibernation and Fast Startup (whice also uses hibefil.sys).

vanp · 26 Aug 2018

Bree said:

Yes. In a Command Prompt (Admin) type powercfg /hibernate off
This will delete the hiberfil.sys and turn off both hibernation and Fast Startup (whice also uses hibefil.sys).

If I decide to Hibernate at some point, can I simply click on that command in the Start Menu button Power menu, and everything will work properly? Thank you.

FrankS · 26 Aug 2018

I've always used Hibernate because I can leave applications open & when I start the PC again the applications are still open as I left them, also it's a faster start up than from a restart. However, I didn't realise Shutdown was the same. But of course every few days I do a full restart.

Eddie Doc · 26 Aug 2018

vanp said:

If I decide to Hibernate at some point, can I simply click on that command in the Start Menu button Power menu, and everything will work properly? Thank you.

The hibernate option should disappear from the start menu if you enter that command. I guess you would have to enter powercfg /hibernate on

f14tomcat · 26 Aug 2018

FrankS said:

I've always used Hibernate because I can leave applications open & when I start the PC again the applications are still open as I left them, also it's a faster start up than from a restart. However, I didn't realise Shutdown was the same. But of course every few days I do a full restart.

There's a little trick with shutdown and hibernate (hiberfil.sys). Even with it enabled, holding the SHIFT KEY while clicking SHUTDOWN, will do a complete full shutdown, bypassing the writing to the hibernation file. This is useful if you want to restart the machine with a clean slate in the hiberfil.sys. It's equivalent to doing powercfg -h off, shutdown, power on, and powercfg -h on. If you ever suspect Fast Startup is giving you problems, it's a quick way to test it. Or if you don't want those open apps to retain their open status.

vanp · 26 Aug 2018

Eddie Doc, could I simply go to the Control Panel power screen (attached) and check the Hibernate option? Thanks.

Attachment 200992

Eddie Doc · 26 Aug 2018

vanp said:

Eddie Doc, could I simply go to the Control Panel power screen (attached) and check the Hibernate option? Thanks.

Attachment 200992

I have hibernate turned off, and I don't see it anymore in power options

Turn Computer Off Or Leave It On-image.png

f14tomcat · 26 Aug 2018

vanp said:

Eddie Doc, could I simply go to the Control Panel power screen (attached) and check the Hibernate option? Thanks.

Attachment 200992

If you have Hibernate enabled, what you are seeing in the Power Option screen is the choice to show Hibernate as an option button in the Shutdown Screen. Doesn't have anything to do with enabling or disabling. Just the display of the Power Option, along with Log Off, Lock, etc.

vanp · 26 Aug 2018

So the only way to turn Hibernate on or off is to do the command line thing? There's no menu option or check box to accomplish that? Also, other than getting rid of the file and saving that space, what's the point of disabling Hibernate? Just don't use it; is there something else going on here?