Top 4 Ways to Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 11 Easily

What is Hibernate Mode in Windows 11?

Hibernate mode is a special state that not only makes your computer energy-saving, but also keeps everything you do intact. When you instruct your computer to hibernate, it will save the current state of your computer, including opened programs, files, and so on, to a file called hiberfil.sys on your hard drive. Then it will shut down your computer.

When you turn on your computer again, it will start up very quickly and Windows 11 will restore the previously saved data, allowing you to continue working from where you left off.

💡 Why is there no hibernate option in Windows 11?

When you install Windows 11 from installation media or upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11, you may find Hibernate option is missing from the Power options menu. That's because Hibernate mode of Windows 11 is not in the default power menu, but don't worry, this article will introduce 4 easy ways to help you enable hibernate mode in Windows 11.

Hibernate vs Sleep Mode: What Are the Differences?

Hibernate mode is similar to sleep mode, because they both are designed to suspend your activity so you can return to where you left off. But they also have some differences. We have summarized the most important points for you.

• Save location: In hibernate mode, all your opened applications and files will be saved on your hard drive instead of RAM.
• Energy-saving: Hibernate mode is more energy-saving because it will store all your data in the hiberfil.sys file on your hard drive and then shut down the computer completely. Therefore, even without power, whenever you turn on your computer next time, you can go back to where you left off.
• Startup speed: Hibernate mode will be very fast when the next time you start your computer, while sleep mode will take longer to boot.

How to Enable or Disable Hibernate Mode in Windows 11

As we can see from the above, hibernation mode protects our data better, is more energy-efficient and has a faster boot speed. Next, this article will introduce you 4 useful ways to enable Windows 11 hibernate mode in turn. You can follow the graphic tutorials below to operate.

Method 1. Enable Windows 11 Hibernate Settings with Control Panel

The first method is to enable hibernate mode in Windows 11 using the Control Panel. Here are the specific steps.

Step 1. Click the Search icon on the Taskbar and type control panel in the Search box, then select the app.

Step 2. When you are in the Control Panel window, select System and Security > Power Options.

Step 3. Click Choose what the power button does.

Step 4. Then click Change settings that are currently unavailable to access the Shutdown settings.

Step 5. The Shutdown settings section will show up. Tick Hibernate option and click Save changes.

💡 Tip: If you want to disable the hibernate mode later, you can follow the previous steps to find the Shutdown settings page and then uncheck the Hibernate option and click Save Changes.

Method 2. Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 11 with Command Prompt

In addition to the first method, you can also use the command Prompt to enable hibernate mode in Windows 11. And please follow the graphic tutorial below.

Step 1. Open the search box as before and type cmd.exe. When its icon appears, click Run as Administrator. If you’re prompted by the User Account Control, click Yes to grant administrative privileges.

Step 2. In the command prompt window, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on and press Enter.

💡 Tip: If you want to disable hibernate mode in Windows 11, you can run the command-line powercfg.exe /hibernate off.

Method 3. Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 11 with Registry Editor

If you don't want to use the two previously mentioned methods, you have another option which is to enable hibernation mode with the Registry Editor.

Step 1. Press win+R to open the Run interface, and type regedit to open the registry.

Step 2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power folder location.

Step 3. Then double click on the Hibernate Enable Default file and type 1 in Value data and click OK.

💡 Tip: If you want to disable hibernate mode in Windows 11, you can type 0 in Value data and click OK.

Method 4. Enable Windows 11 Hibernate Mode using Group Policy

Group Policy is an effective way to configure Hibernate on multiple PCs. When you want to turn on hibernate mode for multiple Windows 11 PCs, GPO is the best choice for administrators.

Step 1. On your domain controller, launch the Group Policy Management console.

Step 2. Create a new Group Policy Object and name it “Enable Hibernate Mode“.

Step 3. Right-click on “Enable Hibernate Mode” and select Edit. This will bring up Group Policy Management Editor.

Step 4. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrator Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.

Step 5. On the right pane, double-click the setting “Show hibernate in the power options menu” and set it to Enabled.

💡 Tips:

• Ensure the GPO is linked to an OU (organizational unit) or you may link it to entire domain to apply the settings for all computers. 
• If you want to disable the hibernate mode later, double-click the setting “Show hibernate in the power options menu” and set it to Disabled.

Bonus Tip: Backup Windows 11 Regularly to Protect Data

When your computer is almost out of power, or you need to shut it down temporarily, hibernate mode can help you protect your previous data and let you continue working from where you left off when you turn it on again. 

To better protect your data, we recommend you backup your Windows 11 regularly with the best backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. It provides four backup solutions, which are System Backup, Disk Backup, File Backup and Partition Backup to meet your various needs. So you can backup anything you want and restore them easily if something wrong occurs. As a professional backup software, it has the following advantages.

✐ You can backup your Windows 11 to multiple destinations, such as USB drive, internal/external hard drive,  SSD, NAS, etc.
✐ You are allowed to set schedule backup, and you can set the intervals with daily, weekly or monthly.
✐ It provides Incremental backup backup method for you to backup only changed files, which can help you to save disk space and backup time. 
✐ You can choose different backup modes (intelligent sector backup or exact backup) and compression levels (high/normal/low) based on your own needs.
✐ It supports various operating systems including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.

Follow the steps below to backup your Windows 11 with ease:

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and launch it. Then click Backup > System Backup.

Step 2. It will select Windows 11 system partition and boot-related partitions automatically. And you just need to select a destination.

Step 3. Click Start Backup to backup Windows 11.

✍ You can customize your backup task with more advanced settings:

• Options: It allows you to enable email notification as well as choose the compression level for your system backup.
• Schedule Backup: You can choose the frequency of your backup, such as daily, weekly, monthly, event triggers, USB plug in.
• Backup Scheme: You can enable automatic backup cleanup to solve the disk full issue in a long-term backup task. It can delete old backup images automatically. (Enjoy it in AOMEI Backupper Professional).

Summary

By now, you should have learned how to enable hibernation mode in Windows 11 using the methods mentioned in this article. To ensure enhanced data protection, consider utilizing the free and reliable backup software, AOMEI Backupper Standard, to regularly back up your Windows 11 system.

This system backup will come in handy for restoring your OS in case of any issues. Moreover, the advanced versions of the software offer Universal Restore, allowing you to restore your system to a computer with different hardware configurations.

Besides, it is a professional cloning software that provides Disk Clone and Partition Clone features, which allows you to clone NVMe to larger NVMe without booting issues. Now download AOMEI Backupper and discover more on your own!