How to turn on or off hibernate in Windows 10 - TechRepublic

How to turn on or off hibernate in Windows 10

Step-by-step instructions on how to enable and disable the Hibernate feature and add it to the Shutdown menu in Windows 10.

Mar 31, 2017
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Hibernation is a Windows’ feature that’s a middle ground between completely powering your laptop down and putting it to sleep. It uses less power than sleep, but it lets you boot more quickly than a complete shut down, and you can pick up where you left off.

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To find out if Hibernate is enabled on your laptop:

  1. Open the Control Panel
  2. Click Power Options
  3. Click Choose What The Power Buttons Do
  4. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable

If you you see Hibernate under Shutdown settings the feature is enabled.

To add it to the Windows Shutdown menu:

  1. Select the Hibernate checkbox
  2. Click Save changes

If you don’t see the Hibernate option, you can enable it from the command line.

Open a Command Prompt window with elevated privileges and enter:

powercfg -h on

To disable it again, just replace the word on with off.

More Windows tips…

BD

Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.