Disable Windows 8 fast startup (hibernate file)

Disable Windows 8 fast startup (hibernate file)

 

Windows 8 fast startup is a new feature which speeds up the startup process by creating a hibernate file which contains system configuration data and is re-loaded each time a PC starts up.  In most cases, if Windows 8 detects a change in the PC configuration, it will ignore the hibernate file and perform a normal startup process which reloads the kernel, services, device drivers and applications. 

However in some cases it's possible that a change in the configuration may not be detected correctly and you may get an error message stating that your configuration conflicts with the Windows 8 hibernate file configuration.  If you swap PC components regularly on a Windows 8 PC you may want to experiment with disabling the Windows 8 fast startup feature to avoid these potential startup issues.

To disable Windows 8 fast startup:

1) Open the Windows 8 Control Panel

2) Select Power Options icon from within the Control Panel (if you do not see the icon, select Large Icons from View by: drop down box on the top right hand corner of the Control Panel).

 

3) From the Power Options panel, select Choose what the power buttons do from the left column:

4) Next, click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.  You will need to be logged in as an Administrator to change this setting.  Then you will notice the setting Turn on fast startup (recommended) will no longer be greyed out.  You may remove the check box and click Save changes to confirm. 

For more information on Windows 8 fast startup, please visit: 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/08/delivering-fast-boot-times-in-windows-8.aspx