Once you are done with your work, all you want is to shut down your computer and get on with your other daily chores. But, when you press the Shut Down button, your computer, rather goes into hibernation. This can be surprising and frustrating, because your intention was to close all your open documents and shut down the PC completely.
It could be possible that you have turned on the Fast Startup feature in your Windows 10 PC either accidentally or on purpose. When turned on, the Fast Startup feature shuts down all your open programs and forces your computer to go into a power-saving hibernation mode that helps your computer to boot much faster on startup, next time. Therefore, this could be the primary reason behind your Windows 10 PC going into hibernation when shut down.
While, this is a strange behavior by your Windows 10 PC, we have a few solutions that may help you to fix the issue. Let’s see how.
Method 1: Choose What the Power Button Does
Sometimes, it’s the power and the sleep button settings that can cause the issue. It’s likely that you have set them to hibernation instead of shut down. Let’s see how to change the power and the sleep button settings:
Step 1: Press the Win + R keys together to open the Run command window.
Step 2: Now, type control.exe in the search field and hit Enter to launch the Control Panel window.
Step 3: In the All Control Panel Items window, go to View by section on the upper right and select Large icons from the drop-down next to it.
Now, select Power Options from the list.
Step 4: Next, go to the left side of the window and select Choose what the power buttons do.
Step 5: In the System Settings window, go to the Power and sleep buttons and lid settings section.
Go to When I press the power button field and change both the On battery and Plugged in fields to Shut down from Hibernate.
Step 6: Next, to disable the Fast Startup feature, click on the Change settings that are currently unavailable link at the top of the page.
Step 7: Now, scroll down to the Shut-down settings section and uncheck the box next to Turn on fast start-up.
Click on Save changes to save the changes you made and exit.
You can now try pressing the Shut down button on your PC and it should shut down completely without going to hibernation.
Method 2: Run the Shutdown Command
As an option, you can also run a command that shuts down your computer, completely without going through the Hybrid shutdown procedure. Let’s see how:
Step 1: Go to Start and type the below command in the Windows search bar:
Shutdown /s /t 0
Step 2: Now, click on the result and your computer will shut down with immediate effect.
Method 3: Use Command Prompt
Another way to completely shut down your PC without going into hibernation is through the Command Prompt. Let’s see how:
Step 1: Right-click on the Start menu at the bottom left of the screen and select Run from the menu.
Step 2: This will open the Run command.
In the search box, write cmd and press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together on your keyboard to open Command Prompt in elevated mode.
Step 3: In the Command Prompt (admin) window, execute the below command one by one and hit Enter after each command:
powercfg -h off shutdown /s /t 0
Once done, exit the Command Prompt window and restart your PC.
Method 4: Run the Power Troubleshooter
Sometimes, the Windows 10 may still stay in the hibernation mode on shut down, even when you have turned off the Fast Startup feature. This situation may occur due to the corrupted system files on your system. In such cases, you can run the Power troubleshooter in Settings and check if this resolves the issue.
Step 1: Right-click on Start and select Settings from the menu.
Step 2: In the Settings window, click on Update & Security.
Step 3: Next, go to the left side of the pane and select Troubleshoot.
Step 4: Now, go to the right side of the window, scroll down and select Additional troubleshooters.
Step 5: In the Additional troubleshooters window, go to the Find and fix other problems section and click on Power.
Click on the Run the troubleshooter button.
Step 6: The troubleshooter will now start looking for any issues and display a set of recommendations.
Follow the on-screen instructions to finish fixing the problem.
Reboot your PC and your PC should be back to normal now.
Method 5: Through Registry Editor
If the above methods don’t work, try making changes to the Registry Editor and see of this works.
Step 1: Press the Win + X shortcut keys on your keyboard and click on Run to launch the Run command.
Step 2: In the Run command search field, write regedit and press OK to open the Registry Editor window.
Step 3: Copy and paste the below path in the Registry Editor address bar and hot Enter:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\currentcontrolset\control\power
Now, go to the right side of the window and look for HibernateEnabledDefault.
Double-click on it.
Step 4: In the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialogue box, go to the Value data field and change it from 1 to 0.
Press OK to save the changes and exit.
Close the Registry Editor and reboot your PC. The problem should be gone now.
*Note – Before making any changes to the Registry Settings, make sure to create a backup of the Registry data. This will help you recover any data that you may lose during the editing process.
Method 6: Run a Repair Upgrade
When nothing works, the only option left is to run a repair upgrade for your Windows 10 device. You can either download the latest .ISO file or use a Windows installation media of Windows 10 (USB, pen drive, or DVD) to run the repair upgrade with the option to keep Windows settings, personal files, and apps. Once done, you will have a fresh Windows 10 OS with your file, apps, and settings from the previous OS.