How to Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10
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.
For more information about fast startup, see:
- Delivering fast boot times in Windows 8 - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
- Designing for PCs that boot faster than ever before - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
- Distinguishing Fast Startup from Wake-from-Hibernation | Microsoft Docs
- Delivering a great startup and shutdown experience | Microsoft Docs
Updates may not be installed with Fast Startup in Windows 10 version 1809 and 1903
Fast startup causes hibernation or shutdown to fail in Windows 10 or 8.1
The fast startup setting doesn’t apply to Restart. You need to shut down and then start your PC again for fast startup to take effect.
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 disable hibernate, then it will also disable fast startup.
You must be signed in as an administrator to turn fast startup on or off.
This tutorial will show you how to turn fast startup on or off for all users in Windows 10.
For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:
Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 11
Contents
- Option One: To Turn On or Off Fast Startup in System Settings
- Option Two: To Turn On or Off Fast Startup using a BAT file
- Option Three: Enable or Disable to Require Fast Startup in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Four: Enable or Disable to Require Fast Startup using a REG file
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Power Options icon.
2 Click/tap on the Choose what the power buttons do link on the left side. (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on the Change settings that are currently unavailable link at the top. (see screenshot below)
4 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.
5 Do step 6 or step 7 below for what you would like to do.
This is the default setting.
A) Under Shutdown settings, check the Turn on fast startup box, click/tap on the Save changes button, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 8)
A) Under Shutdown settings, uncheck the Turn on fast startup box, click/tap on the Save changes button, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 8)
8 You can now close the System Settings window if you like.
If the Turn on fast startup setting is not listed, then you will need to close the System Settings window, enable hibernate, then start over at step 1 again.
The downloadable .bat files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power
HiberbootEnabled DWORD
0 = Turn off fast startup
1 = Turn on fast startup
1 Do step 2 (toggle on/off), step 3 (on), or step 4 (off) below for what you would like to do.
Special thank you to Matthew Wai for providing this .bat file option.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 5 below.
Turn_On_or_Off_Fast_Startup.bat
Download
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 5 below.
Turn_On_Fast_Startup.bat
Download
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 5 below.
Turn_Off_Fast_Startup.bat
Download
5 Save the .bat file to your desktop.
6 Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.
You can skip this step if you downloaded the Turn_On_or_Off_Fast_Startup.bat file from step 2.
7 When prompted, click/tap on Run and Yes (UAC).
If you like, you can stop getting the Run prompt by unblocking the downloaded .bat file.
8 You will now notice your screen flicker as a command prompt quickly opens and closes to apply the registry changes.
9 You can now delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.
If enabled, this option will override Option One and Option Two.
The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Four.
1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Shutdown
3 In the right pane of Shutdown in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Require use of fast startup policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (default) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting. This will allow you to use Option One and Option Two to turn on or off fast startup.
7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
If enabled, this option will override Option One and Option Two.
The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
HiberbootEnabled DWORD
(delete) = Default
1 = Always enable
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (default) below for what you want to do.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Enable_require_Fast_Startup.reg
Download
This is the default setting. This will allow you to use Option One and Option Two to turn on or off fast startup.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Default_not_require_Fast_Startup.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 If you like, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Related Tutorials
- How to Enable or Disable Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows
- How to Hibernate the Computer in Windows 10
- How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10
- How to Shut Down the Computer in Windows 10
- How to Put Your Computer to Sleep in Windows 10
- How to Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10
- How to Check if Last Boot was from Fast Startup, Full Shutdown, or Hibernate
- How to See Sleep States Available on your Windows 10 PC
- How to See Last BIOS Boot Time in Windows 10
Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10
-
New #1
If anyone wants to see the difference in their boot times before and after go to THIS POST and download the Event Viewer custom view I created. I was helping someone 2 weeks ago and created it for him. And today I'm still preparing both my PC's for Win10 and imported my custom views to my laptop thru OneDrive, and I thought it my be useful here too. It's been tested on Windows 10, 8.1 and 7. Remember to unblock in properties.
-
-
-
New #4
Has the Win-X Shutdown been tested with the released version of Win 10? My installation does not work as listed in the Note above.
I did some testing on my Win 10 laptop and found that using the Shutdown command from the right click on the Start Button does NOT do a full shut down. You can test for yourself by using the regular shutdown with the Fast Start feature and then the note the time to get to the Hello screen. Then try the same test with the right click then Shutdown. Then try a test with the right click and use the Restart option. In my case using both shutdown options gave the same restart time, but the Restart option gave a much longer time. From this, I would surmise that the Restart is the only one of these three scenarios that actually does a shutdown.
One other thing that indicates this is true is that the BIOS options are not offered when coming back from the Hybrid Sleep of the Fast Start feature when using both Shutdown options, but they do appear when you use the Restart option.
My installation of Win 10 was an upgrade from Win 7 Ultimate.
-
New #5
Hello Peter, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)
Performing a restart will not give you an accurate comparison to shut down.
Instead, you could use the command below for an immediate full forced shut down to compare with. I'll be interested in your results.
shutdown /s /f /t 0
-
New #6
Here are some unofficial timings from a stopwatch.
I have a 6 year old HP laptop with 4GB memory and a 512 GB SSD for my system drive. I timed for the shutdown scenarios from the time I hit the power button until the Hello/desktop screen appeared. I also took an intermediate time from when the Windows logo displayed until the Hello/desktop screen appeared.
Fast Start feature is enabled on the system.
Shutdown from the Start Button, 24.56 sec, 5.92 sec, No BIOS start screen
Right click Start Button and Shutdown, 25.03 sec, 5.92 sec, NO BIOS start screen
Cmd line shutdown from your post, 38.94 sec, 19.3 sec, BIOS start screen does appear
Restart from Start Button, 34.44 sec, 19.67 sec, BIOS start screen does appear
Right click Start Button and Restart, 39.68 sec, 19.41 sec, BIOS start screen does appear
Win + X shutdown, 25.51 sec, 6.65 sec, NO BIOS start screen
From the above times and descriptions of the BIOS screen appearing during the boot process, I would respectfully suggest that the Shutdown from the Win + X menu you note above still uses the Fast Start Hybrid shutdown.
Could this be a change in the final version released to the public? I did not participate in the win 10 previews.
-
New #7
From your results, it looks like none of the "Shut down" options perform a full shutdown other than the command. I can't include "Restart" since that always does a full shut down and restarts.
One more thing to look at is if you have "Fast Boot" enabled in your UEFI firmware settings or not. If enabled, you usually don't see the BIOS splash screen.
-
-
-
New #9
Interesting. It appears that they don't do a full shutdown anymore. Thank you for posting your results.
It'll be interesting to see what results others have as well. :)
Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10
How to Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10Published by Shawn BrinkCategory: Performance & Maintenance
29 Jul 2022
QuoteTutorial Categories
Related Discussions
