While both Sleep and Hibernate Mode are Power Saving Modes, the Hibernate Mode is specifically designed to conserve more battery life on Windows Laptops.
When a Windows 11/10 computer goes into Hibernate mode, it offloads its data to a hidden file (hiberfil.sys) located on the hard disk and goes into a state of deep sleep mode, without using any power.
In comparison, when a computer goes into Sleep Mode it offloads its data to RAM and still keeps using a small amount of power, in order to keep the data in the RAM alive.
Enable or Disable Hibernatation Mode in Windows 11/10
You can find below the steps to Enable or Disable Hibernation Mode on a Windows 10/11 computer.
1. Enable/Disable Hibernate Mode By Using PoweShell
The easiest way to enable or disable Hibernate Mode in Windows 10/11 is by using PowerShell or Command Prompt.
1. Type PowerShell in the Search bar > right-click on PowerShell and click on Run as Administrator option.
2. On the PowerShell screen, type powercfg –h off and press the Enter key on the keyboard of your computer.
Once the Command is executed, Hibernate Mode will be disabled and “hiberfil.sys” file will be removed from the hard disk of your computer.
Note: Disabling Hibernate Mode will also disable Windows 10 “Fast Boot” feature on your computer. Fast Boot uses the same technology and does not work without Hibernate.
At any time you can Enable Hibernatation by opening PowerShell (Admin) and using powercfg –h on command.
Once the Command is executed, your computer will be able to Hibernate.
3. Enable/Disable Hibernation Using Advanced Power Settings
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Run.
2. In the Run Command window, type Powercfg.cpl and click on OK.
3. From the Power Options screen, go to Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings.
4. On Advanced Power Settings screen, expand the Sleep entry > expand Hibernate After entry and set both On Battery and Plugged in to Never.
5. To Enable Hibernation, set On Battery & Plugged-in to 90, 120 minutes or any other time that suites your own requirements.
3. Enable/Disable Hibernatation Using Registry
Another way to enable or disable Hibernate mode in Windows 10/11 is by using Registry Editor.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Run.
2. In the Run Command Window, type regedit and click on OK.
3. On Registry Editor screen, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Power and double-click on HibernateEnabled DWORD in the right-pane.
4. On the next screen, you can enable Hibernate Mode by changing the Value Data to 1 and disable Hibernate Mode by changing Value Data to 0.
5. Click on OK to close the registry editor and save the changes on your computer.