How to Disable Hibernation in Windows 11

Are you looking for a way to disable hibernation in Windows 11? If so, you’ve come to the right place!

Hibernation is a power-saving feature that can be useful, but it can also be a source of frustration for some users. If you don’t use hibernation or if you find that it is causing problems for you, then disabling it is the solution.

If you’re not sure whether or not hibernation is right for you, keep reading for instructions on how to disable it.

Difference Between Sleep and Hibernate

Before we move on, it’s important to understand what is the difference between putting the PC to sleep/hibernate mode. That is so that you can understand where you should or shouldn’t enable it.

Sleep

Sleep mode puts the computer into a power-saving state by disabling all the components of the computer except the RAM memory. That is because the RAM modules need to be supplied with electricity all the time, or they’ll lose any data that is stored in them.

The PC will wake up in seconds as all it has to do is to power up all of its components again. There are no known downsides to sleep mode except the fact that it still uses a minimal amount of electricity.

Hibernate

Hibernation transfers everything from the RAM to the main storage drive that you have and then proceeds to power off the computer. When you boot up the PC again, the data that was saved on the storage drive will once again get transferred to the RAM.

That will result in having your PC running again at the very same spot that you powered it off. Hibernation uses almost no electricity since the computer is turned off, but as it requires a small amount of data to be transferred, it’s a bit slower than putting the computer to sleep.

It was mostly created for Laptops, but it’s also useful for those who are using a desktop with an old-school HDD drive; they commonly have slow transfer speeds, which result in an extremely slow boot time. Using Hibernation on a desktop with an HDD will drastically improve the boot time. (It’s not really booting, but you get the point)

ATTENTION: Do not use Hibernation if you have an SSD as your main storage drive. The more data that you write on an SSD, the sooner it will fail. Hibernation writes data to the drive each time that you use it, which will lower the lifespan of an SSD, even if for a little. If you consider how many Terabytes the average SSD can withstand, then it really doesn’t seem like a big deal. But, then again, what for? SSD drives offer super-fast boot times since the let-go; there is really no advantage in using hibernation when you have an SSD.

Why should you Disable Hibernation in Windows 11?

Hibernation can be useful for some users, but it can also be an annoyance. It means your computer will automatically enter a low-power state when not in use, which can save energy and increase battery life. However, this means that if you leave your computer idle for too long, it will enter hibernation mode, and you’ll need to wait for it to wake up before you can start working again.

Additionally, hibernation can occasionally cause problems with older hardware, such as malfunctioning peripherals or drivers. If this happens, you may need to disable hibernation in order to resolve the issue.

How to Disable Hibernation in Windows 11?

Disabling hibernation in Windows 11 is relatively simple and can be done in several ways.

Disable Hibernation Using Control Panel

The most common way to disable hibernation on Windows 11 is through Control Panel. Here are the steps to disable the hibernation using Control Panel:

1. On your Windows 11 system, press Windows + R to launch the Run Command window.
2. Type powercfg.cpl in the blank space and hit enter to navigate to the Power Options.
3. Next, click the “Choose what the power buttons does” option on the left pane.
4. On the next window, click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” option to gain admin rights to change Shutdown settings.
5. Uncheck the Hibernate option to disable it and click the Save changes button.

Disable Hibernation Using Command Prompt

Another way to disable hibernation is through Windows Command Prompt. This method can be used if the above method doesn’t work.

Here are the steps to disable Hibernation using Command Prompt:

1. On your Windows 11 system, launch Command Prompt with Administrator rights.
2. Now, to disable the Hibernation, type or copy & paste the following command and hit enter: powercfg.exe /hibernate off.
3. This will immediately turn off the hibernation.
4. If you want to re-enable the hibernation, use this command: powercfg.exe /hibernate on

Disable Hibernate Using Windows Registry

The last option to disable hibernation on Windows 11 is through the Windows Registry. This method must be used with caution, as making changes to the registry can cause serious issues with your system if done incorrectly.

Here are the steps to disable Hibernation using Windows Registry:

1. On your Windows 11 system, press Windows + R to launch the Run Command window.
2. Type Regedit in the blank space and hit enter to launch the Registry Editor window.
3. On the Registry Editor window, navigate to this address: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power
4. On the right pane, look for the HibernateEnabledDefault DWORD and double-click on it to modify its Value data.
5. Change the Value data to 0 for disabling the Hibernation in Windows 11.

Final Words

There you have it – three different ways to disable hibernation in Windows 11. If you don’t need or want to use the feature, disabling it is relatively simple and can help improve your system’s performance. However, if you do need to use hibernation, be sure that all of your devices are compatible with the feature before enabling it again.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the section below.

Peter Brown

Peter is an Electrical Engineer whose primary interest is tinkering with his computer. He is passionate about Windows 10 Platform and enjoys writing tips and tutorials about it.