Every user of Windows operating systems is familiar with the term “sleep,” regardless of whether he has ever used this feature or not. And we are not talking about some hidden settings, and about standard menu shutdown, called by pressing the “Start” button. The suggested list of actions includes sleep and hibernation in Win XP). Although it is believed that these features are designed primarily for laptop owners, in reality this is far from the case. Moreover, the idea turned out to be so successful that in recent Windows versions Microsoft has even introduced an innovation - a hybrid sleep mode aimed at personal computers.
Before we look at what sleep and hibernation are in Windows 7, let's clarify one interesting fact. On the Internet, every now and then you can find admiring reviews from users of the latest Windows operating systems, according to which the computer boot speed after switching to new version system increases significantly (10, 8 and even 6 seconds are indicated). Similar data is sometimes indicated by the developer himself. But not all users experience this fantastic speed. There is no deception! It's just "completely by accident" that it is not indicated that such a boot is performed only under the condition that Windows 7 hibernation is used, and not the standard complete shutdown nutrition.
IN Windows systems is a special way that allows you to resume work in seconds with the same data that was at the time of “putting to sleep.” It can be compared to the “Pause” and “Save position” functions in players. Sleep and hibernation in Windows 7 can be enabled if three conditions are met: BIOS motherboard supports modes, the correct device drivers are installed, the operating system “knows” about these functions. To make adjustments in the BIOS, go to the settings (Del button immediately after turning on) and select the desired state in the ACPI parameters (S1 - S4):
S1 - power is supplied to the processor and memory, but the execution pipelines are suspended. Devices that do not explicitly set their registers may be disabled;
S2 - the same as S1, but the processor is de-energized;
S3 (STR, Suspend-to-RAM, Standby mode) is one of the most popular, especially among laptop owners. All components are disabled except random access memory. Thanks to this, all the information contained in it at the time of switching to standby mode does not disappear. When turned on, the user almost instantly gets the opportunity to continue interrupted work. does not exceed 1 W. There is only one drawback, but a significant one - even with a short-term power failure, all data is lost;
S4 (aka Windows 7 hibernation) is the most reliable mode. All data in memory at the time of shutdown is written to HDD(a dump is created). When turned on, the operating system reads information from the hiberfil.sys file. With a low-speed hard drive and a large amount of RAM installed, restoring from S4 may take longer than booting from scratch.
There is also a hybrid. There is nothing complicated about it, because the name itself gives a hint. The hybrid mode is a combined S3 and S4. With this shutdown, the data is not only saved in the RAM modules, but also dumped into a dump. If the power supply was not interrupted between turning off and turning on, then system operation is resumed by reading the state of the memory cells. If for any reason the data in RAM is lost, then the system is restored from a dump (exactly the same as in the case of S4).
You can use sleep modes on both laptops and personal computers. If there are no problems with power supply, we can recommend choosing the S3 mode.
Instead of turning off the computer's power every time, you can simply switch it to sleep mode by clicking the corresponding button. How to activate sleep mode, how to disable it, what problems an ordinary user may encounter when working with it - I will try to provide answers to all these questions to the dear reader in this material.
How to enable sleep mode in Windows 10
To put your computer to sleep, click the Start button and in the menu that appears, click right click pointer on the power button in the lower left corner, after which you should select the “Sleep mode” option from the drop-down menu.
After this, the screen will go dark, but the computer itself will not turn off. To return the system to working condition, press any key on the keyboard or lightly twitch the mouse.
How to turn off sleep mode in Windows 10
To disable sleep mode, we will use, as usual, the new “Options” menu, available in start menu. Another way to open it is the combination “Win + I”. In the parameters, select the “System” subsection, and then the “Sleep and power” category.
It is in this sector of the menu that you can flexibly debug the activation of sleep mode both when the laptop is powered by battery or from the network.
Additional customization options are available just below, in the “Related Settings” section, where we can debug the behavior of the PC when closing the lid or pressing the shutdown key. Read more about this in the next section.
Setting sleep mode in the control panel
By going to the power settings menu using the method described above, or by opening the control panel and selecting the “Power Options” section in it, you will also have the opportunity to disable sleep mode and debug its operation, more subtly and in detail than in the previously described method .
Opposite the power supply scheme you are currently using, click the “Scheme Debugging” control. In the window that appears, you can set the timer for activating the sleep state both when powered by a battery and again from the mains. Moreover, you can turn off the sleep state altogether by selecting context menu"Never" option.
To access detailed settings sleep mode, just use the “Change additional power settings” item at the bottom of the form. In this category you can set auxiliary options that allow you to:
- set the sleep mode activation period (if set to 0, sleep will be completely disabled);
- activate or deactivate the hybrid sleep mode (in fact, this is one of the sleep mode options when memory data is saved to the HDD drive in the event of an unexpected power outage);
- activate sleep recovery mode timers - as a rule, you don’t need to touch these parameters at all, except for those cases in which you have difficulties with randomly activating the PC’s power immediately after turning it off (if this is your computer, then you need to disable the timers ).
Finally, another rather important section that is worth paying attention to is the Cover and Power Buttons category. Here you can set the default behavior of the PC when closing the lid (meaning the laptop lid) and the action of the power key (by default it is set to “Sleep”).
If necessary, as an addition, you have the right to set settings for turning off drives when there is no PC activity (in the “Hard Drive” category), as well as settings for deactivating the PC or lowering the display brightness (in the “Screen” category).
Common problems when working with sleep mode
1. So, sleep mode is turned off, the screen is also turned off, but after a short period of time the display still deactivates and nothing happens. This problem occurs most often among users. Go to the control panel, then the “Personalization and Design” section, subcategory “Changing the screensaver”.
Disable it, since this is what you see every time in the situation described above.
2. The computer does not wake up from sleep mode - either a black screen is displayed, or there is simply no response to button presses, although the indication itself (if any) shows that sleep mode is on. The most likely explanation for this PC behavior is an error in the video card driver installed on the laptop or desktop PC by the operating system itself. To resolve this situation, uninstall all drivers using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility, and then install them again from the official website. Important note: If you have a laptop with integrated Intel graphics, you will most likely need to take final version drivers from the laptop manufacturer's resource, suitable for Win 7 or 8, and install it in compatibility mode.
3. The power of a laptop or desktop PC is immediately activated as a result of entering sleep mode or turning off the device. This behavior has often been observed by the author on Lenovo products (although it can occur on other brands as well). To resolve the problem, disable wake timers in the secondary power settings in the control panel (see the second section of this article for how to get there).
These are all the problems that users often encounter when working with sleep mode. I hope that you will never encounter any of the troubles described above, and if the need nevertheless arises to seek a solution to the situation, then you will be able to do so easily and naturally, which is what I wish for you.
Any computer session, during which several programs can be launched simultaneously and many files open, must end at some point. At the moment of its resumption, it is not entirely convenient to open all the same windows, but users who know what is sleep mode and actively use it, successfully avoiding such inconveniences. How? Everything is quite simple.
Sleep mode - what is it?
The low power consumption mode, which the machine can enter automatically or at the operator's command, is called sleep mode. Although all previously running processes in the system are stopped, the computer does not stop working completely; it is in standby mode. When transition to sleep occurs Windows mode , all data about the state of the previous session is stored in the device’s RAM. By turning on the PC again, the user can start working with all previously open files and programs in just a few seconds. Why is that? Because there is no need to boot the computer from scratch.
If the machine is running under Windows control 7 or 8, XP or Vista, there is also the option of hybrid. They are different from the sleeper. What is the difference? If the PC is in sleep mode, data about the state of the previous session is stored in RAM; if it is hibernating, such information is temporarily stored on the hard drive in the file hiberfil.sys. This file is created automatically by the system and is located in the root folder of the partition on which the OS is installed. When using hybrid mode, data is saved both in RAM and on the hard drive.
How to put your PC into low power mode
If the user wishes to manually enter Windows sleep mode, he must do the following:
Using the functionality of the system, it can be configured so that the computer will switch to a state of reduced energy consumption automatically after a specified period of time. To do this you just need to know how to set up sleep mode in windows via the control panel. Everything is simple here too. In the first step, we enter the control panel and select “System and Security”.
In the “Power Supplies” section we find a link, after clicking on it, we proceed to selecting a time interval. 
On next step everything is intuitively clear how to configure Windows sleep mode as the user wishes (after how many hours or minutes the PC should go to “sleep” automatically): select a value from the drop-down list. Upon completion of these steps, save the changes.
You can also configure additional mode parameters. For this:
- Select “Power Options” in the control panel;
- Select the power plan that you want to configure, click on “settings”;
- Click on the plus sign next to “Sleep”, set the required parameters, and save the changes.
If Sleep is not available
It will not be difficult to complete all these steps if sleep mode is enabled by default. Unfortunately, things could turn out differently. Example: there is an item in the menu, but it is not available. Here it is necessary to find out the reasons for the current situation. How to do it? It's simple:
- Right-click on “Start”;
- In the search field enter cmd;
- On the command line we write powercfg /a;
- Press the Enter key.
In the window that appears, read the system message and perform the required actions.
Shutdown
It will not be superfluous to know not only the activation method, but also how to disable Windows sleep mode. This is done using the command line:
Now, if the user hovers the cursor over the arrow next to “Shutdown”, he will not see the “Sleep” item. 
How to disable Windows sleep mode using the same method using command line, you can turn it on. To do this, instead of the command powercfg /h off, enter powercfg /h on.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated about enabling or disabling Windows sleep mode. There is also nothing complicated in setting it up and changing additional parameters. If you have any questions about this topic, you can write about it in the comments below.
Users of the most recent Windows editions(versions 7 and 8) are also equipped with a combined hybrid sleep mode. Let's take a look at all three options.
Sleep mode
Characterized by lower power consumption compared to normal computer operation. Some computer components turn off, for example, the hard drive, and some begin to consume less electricity. All running applications remain in the computer's RAM and continue to operate, but are in a standby state. Resuming from sleep mode is almost instantaneous, leaving you with a computer ready to go in seconds.
Hibernation Mode
Was designed preferably for use on laptops that require battery life and ability to quick use if necessary. When hibernation mode is enabled, all running applications from RAM are saved in separate file to the computer's hard drive, and the computer itself turns off. Resuming is slower than resuming from hibernation, but faster than normal Windows boot. And yes, the system is restored to the initial state, preceding the activation of hibernation mode. That is, all running applications and windows will be restored.
Hybrid sleep mode
It will be useful mainly for desktop systems and unreliable power grids. Combines the benefits of sleep mode and hibernation mode. Active applications are saved both in RAM and on the hard drive. The electric meter reduces its speed. The computer will be able to wake up in the correct form even if there are problems with the power supply.
Conclusion
When leaving the computer for a few minutes or for lunch, it is better to use sleep mode. You will save some energy, and when you return, you will be able to get to work very quickly. Using hibernation mode is important for laptop computers. It is best to use it during long breaks from working with the computer, but at the same time wanting to get a working system in a fairly short time. When you use Hybrid Sleep mode, you can be sure that a low laptop battery or a sudden power loss won't result in the loss of unsaved data.
Updated – 2017-01-25
In one of the articles I already mentioned in passing how to set up sleep mode, but I began to receive questions about how to do this in Windows 7. Therefore, I decided to devote a separate public to this issue. It's good that you ask questions. At least I know what interests you most. IN Windows XP all sleep mode settings are in the same window Properties: Screen. I wrote about this in the article,
Why do you need sleep mode anyway? In the past, when monitors were cathode ray monitors, sleep mode was used to prevent the phosphor from burning out. Monitor screens were coated with this substance to convert the energy it absorbed into light radiation.
Due to long and constant work, the phosphor burned out, and the colors became dull and blurry. Moreover, this radiation was very harmful. That is why there was a need to turn off the monitor during a break in work or display a screensaver that prevents the rapid burnout of the phosphor.
The second advantage of sleep mode was and is that you can step away from your computer for a while and not be afraid that someone will inadvertently or intentionally damage your files.
To do this, just set the time after which your computer, if you are not working on it, will automatically go into sleep mode. And you can exit sleep mode either simply by moving the mouse, or using the password that you set to log in to the system.
Unfortunately, I don't have a computer at hand right now. operating system Windows XP so I'll give you a description , no screenshots. But under this description there will be my video on this topic, which I edited earlier when I had Windows XP.
How to set up sleep mode in Windows XP
- Right-click on a location free from shortcuts and files in your Desktop
- Select the last item from the drop-down menu Properties
- In the window that opens Properties: Screen go to the tab Screensaver
- Go to the second half of the window and click the button Nutrition
- In a new window, open the list in the boxes using the small black arrow next to each entry and set the period of time after which you want your monitor, hard drive to turn off, or go into sleep mode.
Video - How to set up sleep mode in Windows XP:
How to set up sleep mode in Windows 7
In Windows 7, sleep mode is configured a little differently. More precisely, the settings themselves are located in a completely different place, and you won’t find them right away.
In order to get to them you need to open the menu Start - Control Panel.
In the next window in the window Search(in the upper right corner) type the phrase “ Sleep mode". You will see links Power supply, And Requesting a password when resuming from sleep mode.
Click on the entry Setting sleep mode.
In the new window, configure the time after which your display will turn off or your computer will go into sleep mode. To do this, click on the small black triangle to the right of the function name.
Pay special attention to the function Require password on wakeup. If you set the value - Yes, then after you move the mouse or press any keyboard key, a window will appear asking you to enter a password.
The password will be the same as when logging into the operating system.
You can also set the exit from sleep mode using a password from the window Power supply.
In a new window, you will be able to configure the computer buttons on the front panel. Whatever value you set, this is the action they will perform when you click on them.
To allow you to wake up from sleep mode using a password, set the switch to write Request password.
Don't forget to save all your changes! Otherwise, your settings will be reset and you will think that your system is not working properly.
Video – How to set up sleep mode in Windows 7:
Now you know how to set up sleep mode. I hope they don't cause you any problems.
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