How To Turn On Or Off Fast Startup In Windows 10

 

Fast Startup (also known as Hybrid Boot) is a new feature introduced first with Windows 8 to start a computer faster than the time required to start a PC with traditional cold startup. Fast Startup is present in the latest Windows 10 as well, and is turned on by default.

How Fast startup works?

According Microsoft, when you shut down your Windows 10 PC, after closing all running applications, Windows automatically saves the copy of loaded drivers and kernel to a file called hibernate file (hiberfil.sys)located in the root of the drive where Windows 10 is installed.

As you likely know, the hiberfil.sys, is usually used by hibernate feature but when you send shut down signal on a PC where Fast startup is turned on, the hiberfil.sys file will be used to save loaded drivers and kernel before shutting down, so that Windows can quickly load them back into memory when you turn on your PC.Because Windows saves loaded drivers and kernel to hiberfil.sys file which is otherwise used by hibernate feature, in order to enable Fast startup feature, hibernate feature must be turned on. For those who are not aware, Windows creates hiberfil.sys only when the hibernation feature is turned on.

So please make sure that Hibernation feature is enabled on your PC before proceeding further. Refer to our how to enable or disable hibernate feature in Windows 10/8 guide for detailed instructions.

By default, Fast startup is turned on and Windows uses the same instead of cold startup (traditional startup). But if you have a feeling that your PC starts slowly after shut down, checking the status of Fast startup is a good idea.

Turn on or off Fast startup in Windows 10

Tip: If you have turned on Fast startup but want to perform a traditional cold shut down once in a while without turning off Fast startup or hybrid boot, open Command Prompt as administrator, type shutdown /s /f /t 0, and then press Enter key.

Step 1: Type Power Options in Start menu search box, and then press Enter key to open Power Options window.

Alternatively, right-click on the Start menu to open the power user menu, and then click Power Options to open the same.

Step 2: In the left-pane of Power Options window, click the link labelled Choose what the power buttons doto open System Settings window.

Step 3: Here, click the link named Change settings that are currently available.

Step 4: Scroll down, under Shutdown settings section, check the box labelled Turn on fast startup (recommended) to enable fast startup feature. Unchecking the Turn on fast startup box will turn off the feature. Once select or deselected, click Save changes button.

And if Turn on fast startup option is not appearing, as said in the beginning of this article, it’s likely because hibernation feature is turned off on your PC. You need to enable hibernate first, and then follow these steps again to see Turn on fast startup option.

If the hibernation is turned on, you must see Hibernate option under Shutdown settings just above Sleep and Lock options.

Turn on or off Fast startup using Registry

Step 1: Open Registry Editor by typing Regedit in Start menu or taskbar search box, and then pressing Enter key.

Step 2: Once Registry Editor is launched, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power

Step 3: On the right-side, locate the value named HiberbootEnabled, double-click on it, and change the value data to 1 (one) to turn on fast startup. Set the value to 0 (zero) to turn off the feature.

Hope this helps!