How to Enable and Disable Hibernate Mode in Windows 11

Hibernate mode, similar to sleep mode, is designed to suspend your activity so that you can return from the last interruption. In hibernate mode, all instances of your open applications and documents are saved to your hard drive instead of RAM.

Another major advantage of Hibernate mode is that you can completely shut down your computer, thus saving power in the process. This can be useful if your laptop's battery is seriously low and you want to make sure everything is OK until you find an outlet and re-power it.

Hibernation and sleep mode

A common way to suspend activity on your computer is sleep mode, which will use RAM to store your settings, but still consume a small amount of battery power. When the power is completely drained, your RAM will not be able to hold any of your memory because it is volatile.

Meanwhile, Sleep mode will store all your data in a hidden file called hiberfil.sys on the hard drive, so you will be able to shut down your computer completely. Even if your laptop's power is completely drained, you will still be able to turn it on and find everything that was there before it was turned off.

The Hibernate feature is obviously designed for laptops and can be very useful if you know you will be away from the power outlet for a long time and you want to keep your work projects and files safe. Be aware, however, that it can also take up a lot of hard drive space.

How to enable Hibernate mode in Windows 11

To enable hibernate mode in Windows 11, you can generally take the following 3 approaches. 

Method I. Use Control Panel

1. Click the Search icon in the taskbar, type “Control Panel” and select Applications from the results.

2. Select “System and Security”.

3. Under “Power Options”, click “Change the function of the Power” button.

4. Next, select the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” option.

5. Now check the “Hibernate” box and click “Save changes”.

6. When you click the Start button and then click the Power button, you will now see the Hibernate option.

If you do not see the Hibernate option, it is probably because Hibernate is not turned on. Follow the next step and you can do this very easily.

Method II. Using the Command Prompt

1. Click the search icon in the taskbar, type “cmd” and click Run as administrator to start the command prompt with full privileges.

2. Type the following command and press Enter to run it: powercfg.exe /hibernate on

Method III. Using the Registry Editor

1. Press Windows+R to start Run. 2.

2. Type regedit and press Enter or click “OK”.

3. In the editor, go to the following path:

4. Double-click “HibernateEnableDefault”.

5. Type 1 in the value box, then click “OK” or press Enter

How do I turn off hibernation in Windows 11

If you do not want to see the Hibernate option in the Start menu, you can also use the opposite method from the first step of this guide by unchecking the Hibernate box.

1. Click the search icon in the taskbar, type “cmd” and click Run as administrator to run the command prompt with administrative privileges

2. Type the following command and press Enter to run it.