Fast Startup - Turn On or Off in Windows 8

How to Turn "Fast Startup" On or Off for a Hybrid Boot in Windows 8 and 8.1​

Fast Startup (aka: hybrid boot or hybrid Shutdown) is a new feature in Windows 8 to help your PC start up faster after shutting down. When turned on, Windows 8 does this by using a hybrid shutdown (a partial hibernate) method that saves only the kernal session and device drivers (system information) to the hibernate (hiberfil.sys) file on disk instead of closing it when you shut down your PC. This also makes the hiberfil.sys file to be much smaller than what hibernate would use (often 4GB or more). When you start your PC again, Windows 8 uses that saved system information to resume your system instead of having to do a cold boot to fully restart it. Using this technique with boot gives a significant advantage for boot times, since reading the hiberfile in and reinitializing drivers is much faster on most systems (30-70% faster on most systems tested). If you have a motherboard with UEFI, then fast startup will be even faster.



For more information about "Fast Startup", see:

Delivering fast boot times in Windows 8 - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

and

Designing for PCs that boot faster than ever before - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs


This tutorial will show you how to turn Fast Startup on or off in Windows 8.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

The fast startup setting doesn't apply to Restart.

This is not the same thing as hybrid sleep/hibernate in Power Options.

If you shut down from the WIN+X menu in Windows 8.1, it will perform a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown even if you have Fast Startup turned on.

   Warning

There have been many Windows 8 users complaining about various restart and shutdown issues when Fast Startup (aka: hybrid boot or hybrid Shutdown) is turned on. They report that their computers restart themselves as soon as the sign in screen appears, and some that their computer systems hang while rebooting or shutting down the system.

If you experience any of the issues, then you might turn off "Fast Startup" to see if it was the cause.

If you dual boot Windows 8 with a previous version of Windows (ex: Windows 7, Vista, XP), then it is recommended to turn off Fast Startup to avoid the issues above.

If you have Fast Startup turned on and have an external hard drive connected when you shutdown, then connect the external drive to another computer, it will create issues with Fast Startup. In this situation, it would be best to leave Fast Startup turned off.

OPTION ONE

To Turn "Fast Startup" On or Off in System Settings

1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Power Options icon.

2. Click/tap on the Choose what the power buttons do link on the left side. (see screenshot below)





3. Click/tap on the Change settings that are currently unavailable link at the top. (see screenshot below)





4. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

5. Do step 6 or step 7 below for what you would like to do.

6. To Turn On "Fast Startup" (Hybrid Boot) for a "Hybrid Shutdown"
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) Under Shutdown settings, check the Turn on fast startup box, and click/tap on the Save changes button. (see screenshot below)

NOTE: If the Turn on fast startup setting is not listed, then you will need to close the System Settings window, enable hibernate, then start back at step 1 again.





B) The Shut down Power option will now perform as a hybrid shut down when used.

C) Go to step 8 below.


7. To Turn Off "Fast Startup" for a "Full Shutdown"

A) Under Shutdown settings, uncheck the Turn on fast startup box, and click/tap on the Save changes button. (see screenshot below step 6A)

NOTE: If the Turn on fast startup setting is not listed, then hibernate has been disabled that removed this setting and also disabled fast startup.

B) The Shut down Power option will now perform as a normal full shut down when used.

C) Go to step 8 below.


8. You can now close the Power Options window if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Turn "Fast Startup" On or Off using a BAT File Download

   Note

The .bat files below are for the registry key and value below.

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

HiberbootEnabled DWORD

0 = Turn off Fast Startup
1 = Turn on Fast Startup

1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.

2. To Turn On "Fast Startup" (Hybrid Boot) for a "Hybrid Shutdown"
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 4 below.


Turn_On_Fast_Startup.bat







3. To Turn Off "Fast Startup" for a "Full Shutdown"

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the BAT file below, and go to step 4 below.


Turn_Off_Fast_Startup.bat







4. Save the .bat file to your desktop.

5. Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

6. If prompted, click/tap on Run and Yes (UAC).
NOTE: If you like, you can stop getting the Run prompt by unblocking the downloaded .bat file.

7. You will now notice your screen flicker as a command prompt quickly opens and closes to apply the registry changes.

8. You can now delete the downloaded .bat file if you like.

OPTION THREE

To Turn "Fast Startup" Off by Disabling Hibernate

1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.


2. To Turn On "Fast Startup" (Hybrid Boot) for a "Hybrid Shutdown"
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) UseOPTION ONE or OPTION TWO above.



3. To Turn Off "Fast Startup" for a "Full Shutdown"
NOTE: This will turn off Fast Startup and also disable hibernate.

A) Disable hibernate.





That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Check if Last Boot was from Fast Startup, Full Shutdown, or Hibernate
• How to Force "Fast Startup" to Always be Turned On in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Enable Fast Boot or Ultra Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows
• How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change the Size of the hiberfil.sys File in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create a "Hybrid Shut Down" Shortcut in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Lock, Log off, Restart, Shut Down, and Switch User in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add "Shut Down" Computer to the Desktop Context Menu in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add a "Power" Cascading Desktop Context Menu in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Speed Up the Shut Down Time in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Reduce the Startup Delay Time for Desktop Apps in Windows 8 and 8.1

[/note]

 

[menace97]

ahh ok. thank you very much Brink. i didn't even notice the word variation... whoops! thank you for the clarification. so from what i provided, you would say that i have fast boot disabled with hibernation off of course? that's good to hear since it is lightening fast imo already to startup i thought, oh no! - but i agree with others that have said i would much rather have a "solid" or more complete boot and wait the extra time, than have a hybrid type of method.

this is one of the very few times that i have had any trouble since going with windows 8.1 x64, i have to say that i'm pleasantly surprised with how good it is. i honestly wouldn't go back to 7 now.

thanks again for your help Brink! much appreciated

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Menace.

Yeah, if Fast Startup and Fast Boot work without issue for you, then they'll make startup a whole lot faster when both enabled.

 

[menace97]

Brink, just to clarify...

i actually have always had hibernation disabled ever since it was introduced so long ago, so that must mean that i have never had fast startup enabled - so it couldn't be the cause of any issues i am having with occasional sudden reboots? (hibernation can't be on without fast startup disabled?)

thank you

 

[Brink]

Yeah, I was just saying if.

For your issue, you might see if troubleshooting with a clean biit may help to ID the culprit.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/23382-troubleshoot-problem-clean-boot-windows-8-a.html

 

[Cliff S]

Hi Shawn thanks for another tutorial that brought something to my attention(read it after seeing menace97's & your conversation in new posts yesterday). I have been wondering why my PC takes around 31 seconds to boot when I'm using an SSD(boot time from event viewer) and others with HDD's boot in 10 seconds or less. Then I saw this it the tutorial:

If you shut down from the WIN+X menu in Windows 8.1, it will perform a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown even if you have Fast Startup turned on.

I use that sometimes, but usually FN+F8 on my Logitech K330 keyboard which I now believe(know actually) uses the WIN+X shutdown version.
I thought I'd tell you, for future reference, when trouble shooting with others.
Oh yeah it now only needs 3 seconds.. 10 times faster!!!

 

[Brink]

Thank you Cliff.

 

[menace97]

Yeah, I was just saying if.

For your issue, you might see if troubleshooting with a clean biit may help to ID the culprit.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/23382-troubleshoot-problem-clean-boot-windows-8-a.html

Excellent Brink. thanks again. For a couple of days I didn't have any issues, then the random restarts started happening again, so I will definitely check out your tutorial for checking for a clean boot in Windows 8.

I seem to be getting often now, but only recently:

• Error Event ID 41 Task 63
• Error Event ID 10110 (User-Mode Drivers & Hosting Process)

 

[bjm]

Hello,
Please advise does the information re WIN+X menu in Windows 8.1, perform a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown even if you have Fast Startup turned on Published by Brink 20 May 2012 still stand today.

I thought I read there was a Windows Update (maybe over a year ago) that unified all W8/8.1 shutdown buttons/methods to be under the influence of Fast Startup. (with Fast Startup On)
I though I read only Restart and command line were not now under the influence of Fast Startup. (with Fast Startup On)

Do you recall changes to W8/8.1 shutdown that I may be confusing with how to bypass Fast Startup to achieve full shutdown.
I though W8/8.1 was changed by a Windows Update to be in-line with actually the current W10 Fast Startup rules.
I thought this (as I remember) Windows Update was like a pre-cursor to how W10 handles Fast Startup influence on shutdown.

Seems like to my memory M$ was testing future W10 Fast Startup by incorporating same into W8.1.

For example on Win 8/8.1, you could right click on the Start button and choose Shutdown, and the system would fully shut down. Now with Win 10, all shutdown options use hybrid shutdown. The only way to get the full shutdown on Win 10 is to use the Restart option, or disable Fast Startup.

I though W8.1 changed at some point to the only way to get full shutdown on W8.1 was to use the Restart option, or disable Fast Startup.

Please comment and correct me. Thank you!

 

[Brink]

Hello bjm,

I'm not sure either, but you can test after turning on the computer from a shutdown by copying and pasting the command below in PowerShell, and pressing Enter.

$boot = Get-WinEvent -ProviderName Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-boot -MaxEvents 10 | Where-Object {$_.message -like “The boot type*”}; $boot| format-list

Boot type 0×1 indicates a hybrid boot, 0×0 indicates a cold boot (full shut down), and 0x2 indicates a resume from hibernation.

I'll create a tutorial for this later, and post back a link for it when finished.

UPDATE: Boot - Check if from Hybrid, Full, or Hibernate in Windows 8 and 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

[bjm]

Good day Brink,
That's so COOL !!!
Thanks

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. Please let us know what your findings are.

 

[bjm]

Good day Brink,

Shutdown Settings > Fast Startup checked + Hibernate checked
1) WinX > Shutdown = 0x0
2) Charms > Start > Power Options > Shut down = 0x1
3) Start Menu > Shut Down = 0x1

Shutdown Settings > Fast Startup checked + Hibernate not checked
1) WinX > Shutdown = 0x0
2) Charms > Start > Power Options > Shut down = 0x0
3) Start Menu > Shut Down = 0x0

Respectfully submitted

 

[Brink]

Thank you bjm. It looks like Win+X shutdown is still always a full shut down.

I'm surprised that having hibernate check or unchecked would have any bearing on fast startup. It was presented to only either have Hibernate show (checked) or hide (unchecked) in the Power menu. Is this the settings you are referring to?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...u-add-remove-sleep-hibernate-windows-8-a.html

 

[bjm]

Thank you bjm. It looks like Win+X shutdown is still always a full shut down.
I'm surprised that having hibernate check or unchecked would have any bearing on fast startup. It was presented to only either have Hibernate show (checked) or hide (unchecked) in the Power menu. Is this the settings you are referring to? http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2658-power-options-menu-add-remove-sleep-hibernate-windows-8-a.html

Yes, Image at number 3 at above link. I was curious regarding Hibernate > "Show in Power menu".
Perhaps Fast Startup is dependent on Hibernate while Hibernate is not dependent on Fast Startup.
W8.1 Power Management is not their finest work.
I've had Fast Startup and Hibernate unchecked from day one.
I became curious by reading about W10.
Yes, Win+X shutdown is still always a full shut down.
As always YMMV
Thanks

 

[PiaLam]

Hello, I found I am not abled to check/uncheck the Turn on fast startup box, it says "Some setting are managed by your system administrator"
Please check below screenshot and please help! Thanks so much!

 

[Brink]

Hello PiaLam,

It looks like you may have used the method in the tutorial below to force fast startup to always be on. You can use step 3 in OPTION TWO below to undo this, and should be able to check/uncheck fast startup afterwards.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/7806-fast-startup-force-use-all-users-windows-8-a.html

 

[PiaLam]

Hello Brink,

Finally I did it. Thanks very much for the help!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. I'm glad it could help.