Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10  

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    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10

    How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Performance & Maintenance
    29 Jul 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10


    Hibernate is a power-saving 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 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.


    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.

    If you want to use hibernate, then be sure to specify the hiberfile type as full.

    This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable hibernate and restore or delete the hiberfil.sys file in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in to Windows as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.


    For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 11



    Contents

    • Option One: Enable or Disable Hibernate in Elevated Command Prompt
    • Option Two: Enable or Disable Hibernate using a REG File Download
    • Option Three: Enable or Disable Hibernate in Registry Editor
    • Option Four: To Turn On or Off Hibernate in Advanced Power Options






    OPTION ONE

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Elevated Command Prompt


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Do step 3 or step 4 below for what you would like to do.


     3. To Enable Hibernate

    This step will restore the hiberfil.sys file and the Hibernate after Power Option under Sleep.

    A) Copy and paste either command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg -h on

    OR

    powercfg -hibernate on

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-enable_hibernate_cmd.jpg

    C) If you would like to have hibernate turned on, then you could do step 2 in OPTION FOUR below.

    D) If you like, you may also wish to add or remove Hibernate in power button menus.

    E) Go to step 5 below.


     4. To Disable Hibernate

    This step will disable hibernation, disable fast startup, delete the hiberfil.sys file, and remove the Hibernate after power option under Sleep.

    A) Copy and paste either command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    powercfg -h off

    OR

    powercfg -hibernate off

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-disable_hibernate_cmd.jpg

    B) Check your advanced power options to make sure that the Critical battery action and Low battery action settings under Battery are not set to Hibernate, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-power_options.jpg


    5 You can now close the elevated command prompt if you like.






    OPTION TWO

    Enable or Disable Hibernate using a REG File Download


    1 Do step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to do.


     2. To Enable Hibernate

    This step will restore the hiberfil.sys file and the Hibernate after Power Option under Sleep.

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

    Enable_Hibernate.reg

    Download


     3. To Disable Hibernate

    This step will disable hibernation, disable fast startup, delete the hiberfil.sys file, and remove the Hibernate after power option under Sleep.

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

    Disable_Hibernate.reg

    Download


    4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

    5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

    6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

    7 Restart the computer to apply the changes.

    8 If you enabled hibernate and would like to have hibernate turned on, then you could do step 2 in OPTION FOUR below.

    9 If you like, you may also wish to add or remove Hibernate in power button menus.

    10 When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.






    OPTION THREE

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Registry Editor


    1 Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

    2 If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

    3 In Registry Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-hibernate_regedit-1.png

    4 In the right pane of the Power key, double click/tap on HibernateEnabledDefault, and do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot above)


     5. To Enable Hibernate

    This step will restore the hiberfil.sys file and the Hibernate after Power Option under Sleep.

    A) Type in 1, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-hibernate_regedit-2.png


     6. To Disable Hibernate

    This step will disable hibernation, disable fast startup, delete the hiberfil.sys file, and remove the Hibernate after power option under Sleep.

    A) Type in 0 (zero), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-hibernate_regedit-3.png

    B) Check your advanced power options to make sure that the Critical battery action and Low battery action settings under Battery are not set to Hibernate, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-power_options.jpg


    7 Close regedit, and restart the computer to apply the changes.

    8 If you enabled hibernate and would like to have hibernate turned on, then you could do step 2 in OPTION FOUR below.

    9 If you like, you may also wish to add or remove Hibernate in power button menus.






    OPTION FOUR

    To Turn On or Off Hibernate in Advanced Power Options


    This option does not disable hibernate, but only turns hibernate on or off for your power plan.


    1 Do either step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to do.


     2. To Turn On Hibernate

    A) If you have not already, then you will need to enable hibernate using either Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above first.

    B) Open the Advanced Power Plan Settings for your power plan, then expand Sleep. (see screenshot below step 4)

    C) Under Hibernate after, set the Setting (Minutes) to how many minutes you want your computer to sit idle for before it goes into hibernation. (see screenshot step 4)

    D) Go to step 4.


     3. To Turn Off Hibernate

    If you disabled hibernate using Option One, Option Two, or Option Three above, then there's no need to do this step since Hibernate after will no longer be listed in your power options.

    A) Open the Advanced Power Plan Settings for your power plan, and expand Sleep. (see screenshot below step 4)

    B) Under Hibernate after, set the Setting (Minutes) to Never. (see screenshot below step 4)

    C) Go to step 4.


    4 When finished, click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10-hibernate_power_options.jpg


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 9,652
    W10 Pro, W10 Home
       #1

    Thanks Shawn! I don't use hibernate, so I opted to turn it off. It saves about 6 GB's of disk space, which makes creating system images even faster. :)
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 Home 64-bit
       #2

    Thanks, it was helpful. Since I have turned hibernate off using elevated command prompt I noticed that I have freed up some space.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #3

    vivek kumar said:
    Thanks, it was helpful. Since I have turned hibernate off using elevated command prompt I noticed that I have freed up some space.
    Hello Vivek,

    This would be from the "C:\hiberfil.sys" file that hibernate uses. The file uses 75% of the total amount of RAM installed on your computer. :)
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
       #4

    Help! this is a great guide, but I was under the false impression (my own fault) that I needed to restore the Hibernate option when I didn't need to.

    I ran the Enable Hibernate.reg file (option 2), and now the battery icon on my computer is not showing. Also, in power options, it no longer shows the separate options for when the computer is plugged in and when it's on battery.
    Instead, there is only one option for choosing when the computer sleeps/turns of display (as opposed to one option for choosing when it sleeps/turns off display when plugged in, and one option for choosing when it sleeps/turns off display when on battery).

    How do I undo the changes that the .reg file made? Or is something else the problem?

    Please help!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hello smooshie, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    It sounds like you have some other issue, since the .reg file in OPTION TWO only enables hibernate using the same method as OPTION THREEE, but automatically for you.

    You can use any of the disable hibernate options to undo enabling hibernate, but I don't think that's your issue.

    You won't have a "plugged in" or "battery" option unless your PC has a battery (ex: laptop) or a connected UPS (ex: desktop PC).
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
       #6

    Hi Brink!

    Thanks for the warm welcome :)
    I'm using a laptop so it has a battery.
    I am not sure what happened, but this morning, the battery icon is showing now and everything seems to be back working. I did try to edit the settings by following this solution :
    Solved Battery and Location Icon in Notification Area missing - Win 10 Pro. - Windows 10 Forums

    Initially, I restarted the computer about 2 or so times. It didn't work, so I started to panic (hence my previous post).
    But this morning, my mom turned on the computer, and the battery icon is showing again.

    Maybe it's the difference between a restart and turning the PC off and then on?

    I'm not sure....

    But anyways, no worries. Problem solved! (Although I'm not quite sure how....)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 56,804
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       #7

    smooshie said:
    Hi Brink!

    Thanks for the warm welcome :)
    I'm using a laptop so it has a battery.
    I am not sure what happened, but this morning, the battery icon is showing now and everything seems to be back working. I did try to edit the settings by following this solution :
    Solved Battery and Location Icon in Notification Area missing - Win 10 Pro. - Windows 10 Forums

    Initially, I restarted the computer about 2 or so times. It didn't work, so I started to panic (hence my previous post).
    But this morning, my mom turned on the computer, and the battery icon is showing again.

    Maybe it's the difference between a restart and turning the PC off and then on?

    I'm not sure....

    But anyways, no worries. Problem solved! (Although I'm not quite sure how....)
    Hey , Smooshie! Can't tell much from your system specs (need to update them, really helps), but check your BIOS settings. If you have S4-S5 enabled, disable them. Take it back to S3. Sleep and Hibernate will behave better.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Great news smooshie. :)
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
       #9

    f14tomcat said:
    Hey , Smooshie! Can't tell much from your system specs (need to update them, really helps), but check your BIOS settings. If you have S4-S5 enabled, disable them. Take it back to S3. Sleep and Hibernate will behave better.
    Hi f14tomcat, thanks for the advice. If it helps, added my system specs :)
      My Computer


 

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