Disable hibernation to save disk space

When using hibernation a snapshot is made of the RAM and saved to the file C:\Hiberfil.sys and the machine is shut down. When restarting again the RAM is restored from the file and is in the same state as before the shutdown. This features can give quick shutdown and restart capabilities (Dependent on HDD speed), but with the expense of used disk space by the file containing the snapshot (Same size as RAM installed)

Disabling hibernation support to save disk space (WinXP has it enabled by default):

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Double click Power Options
  3. Select the Hibernate-tab (Only there if all drivers installed supports hibernation)
  4. Uncheck Enable hibernation (Will remove the file automatically)

More Info MS KB255182
More Info MS KB293399
More Info MS KB308098
More Info MS KB308535

Note if having Clear the Windows Paging File at Shutdown enabled, then the snapshot-file will also be cleared, when shutting down the computer the normal way.

Note if one gets the following stop error message when the computer enters/leaves hibernation or standby, then one should make sure that the installed hardware/firmware/drivers are up to date:

Unable to enter Standby mode.

0x0000009F: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

More Info MS KB197477
More Info MS KB302414
More Info MS KB305689
More Info MS KB305905
More Info MS KB315249
More Info MS KB907477

Note if wanting to use hibernation in WinXP and one selects “Turn off computer” it only shows “Stand by”-, “Turn Off”- and “Restart”-buttons (Non-Classic). One have to press down the Shift-key and it will change “Stand by” to “Hibernate”. More Info MS KB291790

Note if entering hibernation through CTRL+ALT+DEL in WinXP, then when resuming the shell is not restored because the explorer.exe is not in memory when hiberfil.sys is created. To prevent this behavior disable Use the Welcome Screen. More Info MS KB833161

Note in WinXP SP1 and Win2k3 a command line tool was released that presents more Power Management options than the “Power Options”-applet in the Control Panel.

powercfg /?

More Info MS KB324347