Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10  

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    Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10

    Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10

    How to Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Performance & Maintenance
    14 Oct 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10


    Hibernation files are used for hybrid sleep, fast startup, and standard hibernation (described earlier). There are two types, differentiated by size, a full and reduced size hibernation file. Only fast startup can use a reduced hibernation file.

    Hibernation file type hiberfil.sys default size Supports
    Full 40% of physical memory hibernate, hybrid sleep, fast startup
    Reduced 20% of physical memory fast startup

    Hibernate is a power-saving S4 state designed primarily for laptops, and might not be available for all PCs (PCs with InstantGo don't have the hibernate option). While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your full current state (ex: open documents and programs) on your hard disk to the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys), and then turns off your computer. Hibernate uses less power than sleep and when you start up the PC again, you’re back to where you left off (though not as fast as sleep). Use hibernation when you know that you won't use your laptop or tablet for an extended period and won't have an opportunity to charge the battery during that time.

    Hybrid sleep is a special state that's a combination of the S1-S3 sleep and S4 hibernation states, it's when a system uses a hibernation file with S1-S3. It's only available on some systems. When enabled, the system writes a hibernation file but enters a higher-powered sleep state. If power is lost while the system is sleeping, the system wakes from hibernation, which takes longer but restores the user's system state.

    Fast startup (aka: hiberboot, hybrid boot, or hybrid shutdown) is turned on by default in Windows and is a setting that helps your PC start up faster after shutdown. Even faster than hibernate. Windows does this by saving an image of the Windows kernel and loaded drivers to the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) upon shutdown so when you start your PC again, Windows simply loads the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) into memory to resume your PC instead of restarting it.

    Fast startup requires that hibernate be enabled. If you only want to use fast startup and don't plan on using hibernate, then you can specify the hiberfile type as reduced to significantly reduce the size of the hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) to about half of its full size.

    Hiberfile type:

    Full = Supports being able to enable hibernate and turn on fast startup (hiberboot). The hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) will be 40% of physical RAM installed on your computer. Hibernate is available to be added to the power menu.

    Reduced = Only supports being able to turn on fast startup (hiberboot) without hibernate. The hiberfile (C:\hiberfil.sys) will be 20% of physical RAM installed on your computer. Removes hibernate from the power menu.

    This tutorial will show you how to specify the desired hiberfile type to be reduced or full in Windows 10.



    Here's How:

    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Do step 3 (full) or step 4 (reduced) below for what you would like to do.


    3 To Specify Hiberfile Type as Full

    This is the default setting.

    A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg /h /type full

    Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10-powercfg_type_full.png


    4 To Specify Hiberfile Type as Reduced

    A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg /h /type reduced

    If the hibernation file is set to a custom size greater than 40%, then the command will return a The parameter is incorrect error. You must first set the size of the file to zero with the command below, then retry changing the hibernation file type to reduced.

    powercfg /h /size 0

    Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10-powercfg_type_reduced.png


    5 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 1,579
    Windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Nice one, Shawn. Thanks. Although I'm not likely to implement fast startup any time soon, it's nice to know that I can change my mind at half the price!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

      My Computers


  3. Posts : 27,166
    Win11 Pro, Win10 Pro N, Win10 Home, Windows 8.1 Pro, Ubuntu
       #3

    Great for the people with 120GB SSDs and smaller:)
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 353
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64
       #4

    Is the default size in W 10 still 75% ?
    I asked about it here, because i saw a change:
    Solved Did the default Hibernate file size change for Win 10 ? - Windows 10 Forums

    If my install is not working as it should, i'll do another clean install
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #5

    DavidE said:
    Is the default size in W 10 still 75% ?
    I asked about it here, because i saw a change:
    Solved Did the default Hibernate file size change for Win 10 ? - Windows 10 Forums

    If my install is not working as it should, i'll do another clean install
    Hey David, :)

    It seems to still be 75%. I have 16 GB of RAM on my laptop, and the hiberfil.sys file shows as 12.7 GB in size. This is roughly 75% + what Fast Startup may use.

    Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10-hiberfil.png
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #6

    This is interesting, because I have just clean installed Windows 10 Pro 64-bit on my laptop. I have the pagefile set to system managed, if that makes a difference.
    I have 16GB of RAM, but the hiberfil.sys size when set to type Full is only 6.36 GB (6,831,280,128 bytes), and when it is set to type Reduced, it is only 3.18 GB (3,415,638,016 bytes). I have fast startup enabled, too.

    What's interesting is that type Reduced halves the size of hiberfil.sys, but the size under type Full is only 40% of the physical RAM.
    Anybody have an idea why this is happening?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Injust, :)

    Not sure why it's that way for you, but if you like, you can use the command below in an elevated command prompt to set your hiberfil.sys file to 75%.

    powercfg -h -size 75

    Hibernate - Change Size of hiberfil.sys File - Windows 7 Help Forums
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #8

    Brink said:
    Injust, :)

    Not sure why it's that way for you, but if you like, you can use the command below in an elevated command prompt to set your hiberfil.sys file to 75%.

    powercfg -h -size 75

    Hibernate - Change Size of hiberfil.sys File - Windows 7 Help Forums
    I just ran that right now, the file changed to 75% of my RAM, but now when I run
    Code:
    powercfg /h /type reduced
    It returns: The parameter is incorrect.

    But powercfg /h /type full works fine.

    EDIT: Never mind. Set it to 1% then back to 100% and the reduced type command works
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Good news. :)
      My Computers


 

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