Hi­ber­na­tion conserves energy and battery life, and lets you continue your work where you left off even after a long break away from your screen. It can be activated and de­ac­ti­vat­ed in Windows 10 via the power settings. Read on to find out how to adjust hi­ber­na­tion settings in Windows 10.

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Why is Windows 10 hibernate useful?

To un­der­stand the benefits of Windows 10 hi­ber­na­tion, it’s important to un­der­stand what it does. When your device goes into hibernate mode, the system saves all opened files, ap­pli­ca­tions, and documents to disk (not to RAM memory). Con­se­quent­ly, the system turns off the screen and back­ground programs, but also shuts down the entire power supply, con­serv­ing battery power and saving elec­tric­i­ty costs. When you wake the device from hi­ber­na­tion, any pre­vi­ous­ly opened ap­pli­ca­tions are reloaded and you can continue where you left off.

Energy saving options in Windows 10

Hi­ber­na­tion is one of three energy-saving settings in Windows 10. It is the only option that shuts off power com­plete­ly:

  • Hi­ber­na­tion: Stops all opened documents, files, and ap­pli­ca­tions on the hard drive and in­ter­rupts the power supply. The device is no longer powered. Once you resume, the system continues where you left it. Hi­ber­na­tion is disabled by default in Windows 10. To use it, you need to switch it on first.
  • Standby mode: Standby and hi­ber­na­tion differ in that only the screen and un­nec­es­sary back­ground programs are stopped in standby. Opened files, documents, and ap­pli­ca­tions are saved in the RAM. The device is still powered and can be woken up faster compared to hi­ber­na­tion.
  • Hybrid hi­ber­na­tion: In hybrid hi­ber­na­tion, your device backs up existing documents, files, and ap­pli­ca­tions to memory and hard drives. Power con­sump­tion is reduced to a minimum. The advantage is that work is loaded via the hard disk. To protect your data from being lost, it is rec­om­mend­ed that you regularly perform a Windows 10 backup.

Enable hibernate in Windows 10: tutorial

To enable hibernate in Windows 10, follow the steps below.

Note

If you want to enable hibernate mode in Windows 11, follow “System” > “Power & sleep” and access the display settings.

Step 1: Launch the Windows settings using the Windows shortcut [Windows] + [i] and access “System”.

Image: Windows 10: Overview of Windows settings menu
Access power options via “System” in the Windows settings.

Step 2: Select “Power & sleep” in the menu on the left and navigate to “Ad­di­tion­al power settings” on the far right.

Image: Windows 10: “Power & sleep” menu in “System”
In “Power & sleep”, select “Ad­di­tion­al power settings”.

Step 3: On the right, click on “Choose what the power buttons do”.

Image: Windows 10: menu for “Additional power settings”
The item “Choose what the power buttons do” takes you to the advanced power settings.

Step 4: Click the “Change settings that are currently un­avail­able” option. Depending on your user account, it may be necessary to enter an ad­min­is­tra­tor password.

Image: Windows 10: menu to define power saving options
The “Change settings that are currently un­avail­able” link takes you to settings to enable Windows 10 hi­ber­na­tion, among other things.

Step 5: In “Shutdown settings”, place a check mark next to “Hibernate” and confirm your selection with “Save changes”.

Image: Windows 10: Menu “Shutdown settings”
Enable Windows 10 hi­ber­na­tion via “Shutdown settings”.

Step 6: If you click on the Windows icon at the bottom right, you’ll see the “Hibernate” option. Select this to pause your work and shut down the power supply.

Image: Windows 10: “Hibernate” option in Windows Start menu
After ac­ti­va­tion, the “Hibernate” option appears in the Windows Start menu.

Disable Windows 10 hibernate

Sometimes you may wish to disable Windows 10 hi­ber­na­tion, perhaps to speed up Windows 10, or prevent your laptop from “falling asleep” all the time. To do so, simple remove the check mark next to “Hibernate” in the power options menu. If you wish to disable Windows 10 sleep mode rather than the hibernate mode, remove the cor­re­spond­ing check mark next to “Sleep”. Since both functions are useful to save energy, you should leave the standby/power-saving mode enabled.

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