Hibernation option is gone in settings/start menu

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by MatthiasE5, Feb 4, 2025.

  1. MatthiasE5

    MatthiasE5 Hunter

    Messages:
    152
    Hello,

    I have updated Parallels (Pro) from 19 to 20, and Windows 11 ARM from 23H2 to 24H2.
    I noticed the hibernate button is no longer available in the Start Menu shutdown options.
    I need this for various reasons.
    It is not possible to re-enable it in Windows 11 Configuration (in normal Windows Settings (not VM/Parallels, there is a checkbox that is grayed out for enabling hibernation. There is also an option that removes the graying out so users can see the hibernate option in their start menu. The option to remove the the graying out does exist in the VM, but the checkbox for hibernate is not available, only "standby" and "lock".
    I am very sure that there is no reason to make this available again. I have reason to believe this was blocked by Parallels as it seems to be still available in normal Windows 11 24H2 installations.
    I am of course aware that there are commands in windows to enable/initiate hibernation beyond having to use the Start Menu.
    powercfg /h on
    shutdown /h
    e.g. in a bat file run as administrator.

    However I am not certain if perhaps there was a stability problem with hibernation or some other reason why Parallels chose to disable it. Was this change documented in the changelog?

    Please help.

    Thank you.
     
  2. MatthiasE5

    MatthiasE5 Hunter

    Messages:
    152
    FYI I am using the latest version of Windows and the latest version of Parallels (on Sonoma 14.7.1 MBA M1 16GB RAM).
     
  3. MatthiasE5

    MatthiasE5 Hunter

    Messages:
    152
    Hello, so I did some tests. Apparently, after installing 24H2 (under Parallels 20), the hibernation option will disappear, but it can be re-enabled.
    After clicking "hibernate" in the the start menu, it sometimes very briefly shows "preparing hibernation", and then pauses the VM. It seems to me that in 23H2, this message was longer, or at least it felt as if is actually putting windows to hibernation. But perhaps nothing actually changed between 23H2/P19 and 24H2/P20.
    There is a hiberfil.sys that is shown as 2 GB in C. I wonder if it even makes sense to have hibernation enabled or if it may even waste space?
    I translated the following event view log from German to English.

    System

    Provider
    [Name] Microsoft-Windows-Power-Troubleshooter
    [Guid] {cdc05e28-c449-49c6-b9d2-88cf761644df}

    EventID 1

    Version 3

    Level 4

    Task 0

    Opcode 0

    Keywords 0x8000000000000000

    TimeCreated

    [SystemTime] 2025-02-05T14:21:34.4994669Z

    EventRecordID 564

    Correlation

    [ActivityID] {b10c21cd-2728-450a-87be-3ce497c1d2d8}

    Execution

    [ProcessID] 3340

    [ThreadID] 2948

    Channel System

    Computer ...

    Security

    [UserID] S-1-5-19

    EventData

    SleepTime 2025-02-05T14:21:23.4445692Z
    WakeTime 2025-02-05T14:21:34.2109714Z
    SleepDuration 386
    WakeDuration 218
    DriverInitDuration 200
    BiosInitDuration 0
    HiberWriteDuration 1549
    HiberReadDuration 1362
    HiberPagesWritten 198109
    Attributes 1979728129
    TargetState 5
    EffectiveState 5
    WakeSourceType 0
    WakeSourceTextLength 0
    WakeSourceText
    WakeTimerOwnerLength 0
    WakeTimerContextLength 0
    NoMultiStageResumeReason 0
    WakeTimerOwner
    WakeTimerContext
    CheckpointDuration 1162

    The system was reactivated from a standby mode.

    Time in power-saving mode: ‎2025‎-‎02‎-‎05T14:21:23.444569200Z
    Reactivation time: ‎2025‎-‎02‎-‎05T14:21:34.210971400Z
    Reactivation source: Unknown
    GERMAN for reference due to translation insecurities. Note that I did NOT click "save energy", but i did click "Ruhezustand" (hibernation).
    Das System wurde aus einem ###Standbymodus reaktiviert.
    Zeit im ###Energiesparmodus: ‎2025‎-‎02‎-‎05T14:21:23.444569200Z

    So my questions are:
    1. Can Parallels perform a real virtual hibernation action (virtual RAM to disk) that windows perceives as if it did this on real hardware, (and that allows e.g. testing of software how it behaves in that case?)
    2. Does Parallels actually perform such an action, or does it stop Windows during the hibernation process and pauses the VM instead?
    3. From a security/safety perspective, would a VM that has first been put into Windows hibernation and THEN paused be more robust as a file (as a VM file), i.e. in case of corrupttion, do you think a paused VM might be less relieable than a paused VM that was virtually hibernated before the pausation, e.g. when such a VM file is restored from a APFS snapshot as created by time machine or Carbon Copy Cloner?
     

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