How to Enable or Disable Fast Startup in Windows 11

Fast Startup is a feature in Windows 11 designed to make your computer turn on faster. It works by saving some system information to your hard drive when you shut down, rather than closing everything completely. This acts like a mix between a full shutdown and hibernation.

Why use Fast Startup? It makes your computer ready to use much quicker after you press the power button.

What happens when done? Your computer will boot up significantly faster because it doesn’t have to reload every single system file from scratch.

How to Enable or Disable Fast Startup

You can manage this setting through the Control Panel. Note that these steps require administrator privileges.

1. Open the Start menu and search for “Control Panel.” Select it from the list.
2. 
3. Click on Hardware and Sound.
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5. Under Power Options, click the link that says Change what the power button does.
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7. Click the link at the top labeled Change settings that are currently unavailable.
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9. Check the box next to Turn on fast startup (recommended) to enable it. Uncheck it to disable the feature.
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11. Click Save changes and restart your computer.

To turn it off, simply follow the same steps and uncheck the box.

Using the Registry Editor

Advanced users can also manage this via the Registry Editor. Note that this requires administrator privileges.

First, open Windows Registry Editor.

Navigate to the following path:

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

Find the HiberbootEnabled item in the right pane. Double-click it and change the value to 1 to enable it, or 0 to disable it.

If you do not see HiberbootEnabled, right-click in the empty space, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it HiberbootEnabled.

Summary

Fast Startup helps your computer wake up faster by keeping key system files ready to go. You can toggle this setting in the Control Panel or the Registry Editor if you run into any performance issues. Remember that some changes require a full restart to take effect.