The most commonly offered resolution to a non-available hibernate mode is to run “powercfg /hibernate on” at an administrative command prompt (to start it: Click “Start”, type “command” in the Start Search box, right-click “Command Prompt” in the Programs list, and then click “Run as administrator”).
Complicated – and not the right solution for most people.
I found out that it frequently has to do with the new “Hybrid Sleep” function in Vista. When this is enabled, hibernate is disabled. Since I don’t care for “Hybrid Sleep”, but rather prefer “Hibernate”, I changed it to allow hibernation as follows:
Go into the “Control Panel”. Then click on “Power Options” or “Change battery settings” under “Mobile PC” (depending on your Control Panel mode – whichever you see).
Then click on “Change plan settings” for the currently selected power plan.
Now click on “Change advanced power settings”.
Then click on the “+” left of “Sleep”, and then on the “+” to the left of “Allow hybrid sleep”.
Now set both “On battery” and “Plugged in” to “Off”, and click “OK”.
Now you will have the hibernate function available to you.
Mark Krieger helps organizations and individuals to create systems for success, both on the IT and operations side and implement strategies for financial well-being. www.makbiz.ca