Windows 11 includes several power management features designed to help save energy and preserve your system state when the computer is not in use. One of these features is Hibernation, which saves the current state of your system—including open apps and documents—to the hard drive and then completely powers off the computer. When you turn the computer back on, Windows restores everything exactly as it was before hibernation.
While hibernation can be useful for laptops and portable devices, some users choose to disable it. The feature creates a system file called hiberfil.sys, which can consume several gigabytes of storage space on the system drive. Disabling hibernation can free up this disk space and simplify power options if you only use Sleep or Shut Down.
Windows 11 allows you to disable hibernation through built-in system tools such as Command Prompt or PowerShell. In this guide, we will walk you through the steps to disable hibernation in Windows 11.
How to Disable Hibernation in Windows 11
Follow the methods below to turn off the hibernation feature on your Windows 11 computer.
1. Disable Hibernation Using Command Prompt
The easiest and most common way to disable hibernation is by using a simple command.
- Press Windows + S and type Command Prompt.
- Right-click Command Prompt from the search results.
- Select Run as administrator.
- In the Command Prompt window, type the following command: powercfg -h off
- Press Enter.
- Close the Command Prompt window.
Once this command is executed, Windows will immediately disable hibernation and remove the hiberfil.sys file from your system drive.
2. Disable Hibernation Using Windows PowerShell
You can also disable hibernation using Windows PowerShell.
- Right-click the Start button.
- Select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- In the terminal window, enter the following command: powercfg -h off
- Press Enter.
- Close the terminal window after the command completes.
This command performs the same function as the Command Prompt method.
3. Verify That Hibernation Is Disabled
After running the command, you can confirm that hibernation has been disabled.
- Press Windows + X.
- Select Terminal (Admin).
- Run the following command: powercfg /a
- Press Enter.
- Check the list of available sleep states.
If hibernation is disabled, it will appear under the section indicating that the feature is not available.
4. Remove the Hibernate Option from the Power Menu
Disabling hibernation automatically removes the Hibernate option from the Windows power menu.
- Click the Start button.
- Select the Power icon.
- Verify that Hibernate is no longer listed.
If the option no longer appears, the feature has been successfully disabled.
Conclusion
Hibernation in Windows 11 is designed to save your system state and conserve power by storing the current session on the system drive before shutting down the computer. While this feature can be useful for some users, it also consumes disk space through the hiberfil.sys file.
By disabling hibernation using Command Prompt or PowerShell, you can free up storage space and simplify your system’s power options. If you ever decide to use the feature again, you can re-enable it by running the command powercfg -h on in an elevated terminal.
