Hibernation Support on Surface

Since Microsoft introduced a new modern standby feature, hibernation support is turned off by default on every Surface device. Modern standby allows your Surface to benefit from instant on/off, background activity while the system is off, and a simplified wake story feature.

Even modern standby allows you to resume your work quickly and efficiently, but it still drains some of your Surface battery. If you plan not to resume your job anytime soon, you should consider hibernating your Surface to stop the battery drain completely. In this article, I will guide you through hibernating your Surface right from the power menu in the start menu.

Note The following instruction only applies to Surface PCs operating with Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 Home or Pro. Windows 8.1 RT does not support hibernation.

Table of Contents

Method 1: Local Group Policy Editor

One of the most effective ways to enable the Hibernate button in the power menu is to use group policy. This method works across recent Windows operating systems, including Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11. Here are the steps to follow to do it.

Press Win + R to open the Run window. Type “gpedit.msc” and press enter. Alternatively, on Windows 11, you can click on the Start menu, type “Edit Group Policy,” and open it.

Run - gpedit.msc
Run command gpedit.msc.

On the Local Group Policy Editor window, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer and double-click the Show hibernate in the power options menu setting.

Show hibernate in the power options menu location
The location of the “Show hibernate is in the power options menu” setting.

Set the setting to Enabled and click OK to show hibernate from the power options menu.

Enable the Show hibernate in the power options menu policy
Set the “Show hibernate in the power options menu” to Enabled.

You should see the hibernate option after clicking the power button from the Start menu. Restart your Surface if the option doesn’t appear.

Hibernate option on Windows 11
Hibernate on Windows 11

Method 2: Command Line or PowerShell

If you want to enable hibernation support on your Surface device using the command line or PowerShell, here’s how to do it:

Right-click on the Start icon and click on Windows PowerShell (Admin).

How to go to Windows PowerShell (Admin)

In the Windows PowerShell window, type powercfg /h on, press Enter

Command to turn on Hibernate option

Returning to Power Options > System Settings, you will see that Hibernate is available in Shutdown settings.

Surface System Power Settings with Hibernate option

Now, you can hibernate your Surface right from the power menu in the start menu.

Hibernate option in Power menu

How to check the Hibernate option in System Power Settings

In the video below, I show you exactly the steps you need to do to turn on or turn off the hibernation power feature on Windows 10:

Here, you can check whether hibernation is turned on or off on your Surface.

  1. Right-click on the battery icon in the system tray
  2. Click Power Options
  3. Click Choose what the power buttons do
  4. You will see that there are no Hibernate options under the Shutdown settings.
Default Surface System Power Settings