How To Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 8

So you have just bought the new Windows 8 system, but found yourself in an unknown territory. Well, where has start orb, hibernate mode, power option and applications gone? Personally, I started loving the new Windows 8 OS by Microsoft. Despite of having some striking differences from the predecessor, it offers more ease and options.

However, some features are buried down so deep inside the system that often makes it impossible for users to utilize it to its full capacity. Start Orb, new Windows Start Screen, control panel, notifications, hot corners doesn’t bother me anymore. In fact, the more I use the system, more I start liking it.

But, there are some missing options or settings which makes me ponder over its usefulness for normal end-users. For example, hibernation mode in Windows 8 is missing. Users can’t even find it from the search option. It gives no clue about that option. For beginners, there is also a free book called Winodws 8 for dummies which will help you to understand the new ecosystem by Microsoft better.

The same problem arose when a friend of mine asked about it. Even, for a normal person like me, who lives in India where electricity often turns out to be a bitch, hibernation option is extremely necessary. Instead of relying on UPS to give backup for some time and saving the work during that time is not a recommended practice.

In such scenario, hibernation mode in Windows 8 can come to the rescue. It not only helps in quickly shutting down, actually hibernate, the system but you also do not need to fear about loosing your precious work. Have Microsoft had thought about enabling it by default, we would have not gone through the pain of writing how to enable hibernate mode in Windows 8.

In a layman’s term, hibernation means shutting down the computer while retaining its existing state. In such scenario, when you switch on the device, you will find your previous works intact. It takes a separate disk space on your HD to store all this information. Hibernation, particularly, is used in laptops, but even a normal desktop user can use it. Advanced users can go through some of the Windows 8 tutorials like how to change start screen background, update apps manually and bring back start menu orb on Windows 8.

Enable Hibernate Mode in Windows 8

The bottom right hand hot corner presents power settings. If you do not see the hibernate option there, then it probably means that it is disabled or not active. Following steps should be performed to enable hibernate option in W8.

First thing first, you need to edit registry to see whether the Hibernate option has been disabled by default or not. In order to do that, you should navigate to following path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

Note: Always backup registry before you perform any task. It could make or break your device. Having a backup in the handy place will always help in rollback any changes (read mess) you made.

Step 1: Press WinKey + R to open run command.

Step 2: Type regedit and press enter button.

Step 3: This will open a registry editor module in the separate window. Now navigate to the below path.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

Step 4: As displayed in the right hand pane (check below screenshot), look for the option called HibernateEnabled. If the value of this registry entry is 0, then it means it is disabled. You should right click and modify the entry to 1. This will enable hibernate mode in Windows 8.

Step 5: One again, check the power option from the bottom right hot corner. If you still aren’t finding Hibernate option, then perform the following steps.

Step 6: In case, if the hibernate option is not present, it indicates that you need to change power settings.

Step 7: Go to Control panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Power Options. You will find something similar to this.

Step 8: Select a ‘Choose what the power buttons do’ from the left hand menu option. It should bring something like this.

Step 9: You will find blurred out option. In order to enable them click on ‘Change settings that are currently unavailable‘ option as highlighted in the screenshot.

Step 10: Now from there, select the Hibernate option. Save the changes. It should bring the Hibernate option in the power button as shown below. There is no need to restart for this operation to perform.

 

Isn’t it a piece of cake? Have you lost us somewhere in between or have you any trouble understanding the steps above? Let us know, so we can help you out to enable Hibernate option on Windows 8.