How to Enable Hibernate in Windows 11?

Hibernate mode is one of the power options available in windows which lets you shut down windows and quickly recover to your current state when you reboot your computer. Rebooting from a hibernate state recovers your documents and applications in the state they were before you shut down the computer.

Hibernate works by saving the current state of your device into the disk drive before shutting down. It does so by writing into hiberfil.sys, and the next time you boot your device, the contents of this file are read and loaded into system memory.

If you want to use hibernate function in Windows 11 but are having problems finding out which windows settings to tweak, we will guide you through the process. Keep on reading the article below.

Why Enable Hibernate in Windows 11?

Although the prevalence of fast SSDs, RAM, and CPUs these days means that you could cold boot your system pretty quickly, hibernate still has its uses. Primarily, you’d want to use hibernate for the following reasons:

How to Turn on Hibernate in Windows 11

You will find that hibernate is disabled by default in Windows 11. This is because hibernate was originally designed to be a power-saving strategy on windows devices, but modern hardware have become increasingly more power-efficient. In addition, starting with Windows 8, Microsoft introduced Fast startup, a pseudo-hybrid power management approach.

If you want Hibernate option to be available when you click on the power button in the start menu, then you could use one of the methods outlined below:

Using Elevated Command Prompt to Enable Hibernate

You can enter a command line parameter to enable hibernate in your windows machine. To do so, please follow these steps:

1. Launch elevated command prompt (Press Win + R, type cmd then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter)
2. Type in either powercfg.exe /h on, and press enter. Then close the command prompt
   

   You should now have the option to hibernate in start menu power options.
   

Using Control Panel to Enable Hibernate

You can also enable hibernate from the windows control panel. Please follow these steps:

1. Press Win + R and type in Control panel
2. Select System and Security
3. Under Power Options, click on Change what the power buttons do
   
4. Click on Change settings that are currently unavailable
   
5. Put a tick mark on Hibernate
6. Click on Save changes

Now Hibernate option should be available when you press on power button from the start menu.

Enabling Hibernate in Windows 11 to Go devices

If you have a device running portable windows (e.g., on a USB drive), then following the steps above will not be enough for you to turn on Hibernate. You will need to tweak the Local Group Policy to make this option available. Please follow these steps to configure the Local Group Policy Editor to enable hibernate in your device running portable windows 11:

1. Press Win + R and type in gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Template > Windows Components > Portable Operating System
3. Double click on “Allow hibernate (S4) when starting from a Windows To Go workspace
   
4. Click on Enable radio button. Click on Apply and OK
5. Restart your device

You should now be able to follow the procedure outlined above to enable Hibernate on your device.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Windows 11 Have Hibernate?

Yes, Windows 11 does have Hibernate function (unless you have a device with InstantGo). However, the function is disabled by default. To enable hibernate on Windows 11, please refer to the article above.

Is Hibernate Better Than Sleep?

Hibernate and Sleep are the same concepts of power management in the Windows operating system with slightly different execution. Both power modes save your current configuration, including open apps, so that they can be quickly resumed when you next turn on your device.

Sleep mode achieves this by storing your current state into the system RAM. Hibernate achieves the same result by storing your current state into the disk drive. Since RAM is a volatile memory, it needs constant power to keep its stored configuration while disk drives do not. Thus, sleep consumes more power than hibernate option.

On the other hand, RAM is much faster than a disk drive, hence resuming your last configuration from sleep mode is much faster than from hibernate.

Does Hibernate Damage SSD?

Hibernate writes a lot of data into the disk drive. SSD drives are indeed sensitive to the number of write cycles, and hibernating could theoretically take away from the lifespan of the SSD. However, modern SSDs are designed to withstand multiple dozens of GBs of write cycle every day and are still expected to last a decade. Therefore, the impact of hibernate on SSDs is not something to worry about.

Does Hibernate Drain Battery?

Hibernate writes the current state of your device into the disk drive, then turns off the computer. While it is turned off, your device will not consume any power, and hence hibernate does not drain battery.

Is Hibernate the Same as Fast Startup?

Fast startup is a hybrid power management approach that has been implemented since Windows 8. It is a combination of hibernate and shutdown processes. Like hibernate, it saves the state of the device into the disk drive. But unlike hibernate, it only saves the basic services that load during the startup (kernel32 and drivers), while hibernate saves everything currently in the system memory, including open applications.