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How do I enable hibernation on my Windows Vista-based computer?

View products that this article applies to.

Problem description

When you want to enable hibernation on your Windows Vista-based computer, you may experience one or more of the following problems:
  • The Hibernate option is not available on the Start Start button menu power options menu.
  • The Hibernate option is not available in the Shut Down Windows dialog box.

    Note To open the Shut Down Windows dialog box, press ALT+F4.
  • The Hibernate option is not available on the power button menu that appears on the secure desktop.

    Note You can access the secure desktop's power button menu when you log off Windows Vista.
To have us fix this problem for you, go to the “Fix it for me” section. If you’d rather fix this problem yourself, go to the “Let me fix it myself” section.

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Fix it for me

NoteIf the computer does not support the hibernation feature, you cannot enable the feature. To determine whether your computer supports the hibernation feature, see the "More information" section.

To fix this problem automatically, click the
Fix this problemlink. Then, click
Runin the
File Downloaddialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.




NoteIn order to enable the hibernation file, you must have at least as much free space on your system drive as there is physical memory in the computer. If you do not have adequate free space available, you will get the following error when you run this Fix it Solution:
This "Fix it" does not apply to your system.

Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

NoteIf you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.


To check whether this resolved the problem, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

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Let me fix it myself

This problem occurs for one of the following reasons:
  • The Disk Cleanup Utility was used to delete the Hibernation File Cleaner.
  • The computer does not support the hibernation feature.
  • The hibernation feature is disabled.
  • The Hybrid Sleep feature is enabled.

    NoteThe Hybrid Sleep feature puts the computer to sleep and generates a hibernation file when the user selects the Sleep option in any of the power option menus. Therefore, Hibernate is not offered as a power option when Hybrid Sleep is enabled.

To resolve this issue, use the PowerCfg tool to enable the hibernation feature. To do this, follow these steps.

Note If the computer does not support the hibernation feature, you cannot enable the feature. For information about how to use the PowerCfg tool to determine whether the computer supports the hibernation feature, see the "More Information" section.
  1. Click Start the Start button , type command in the Start Search box, right-click Command Prompt in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator.

    User Account Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
  2. At the command prompt, type powercfg /hibernate on.

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More information

You can also use the PowerCfg tool to determine whether the computer supports the hibernation feature. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start the Start button , type command in the Start Search box, right-click Command Prompt in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator.

    User Account Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
  2. At the command prompt, type powercfg /a.
The PowerCfg tool generates output that resembles the following:
The following sleep states are available on this system: Standby ( S1 S3 ) Hibernate Hybrid Sleep 
The following sleep states are not available on this system: Standby (S2) 
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
The sleep states that are listed as available and as not available vary, depending on the computer's hardware.

Note If the computer does not support the hibernation feature, you cannot enable the feature.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

928897 I used the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows Vista, and now the hybrid sleep feature and the hibernation feature are unavailable

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Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.

For help with power consumption and battery life problems in Windows Vista, visit the following Microsoft Web page:
Fix problems in which power consumption is more than expected or the battery life is short

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Keywords: kbmsifixme, kbfixme, kbexpertisebeginner, kbentirenet, kbtshoot, kbprb, kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 929658
Revision : 3
Created on : 4/18/2018
Published on : 4/19/2018
Exists online : False
Views : 572