Windows 11 How to Enable Sleep so system powers on with saved desktop

To enable the desired sleep functionality on your Windows 11 system, particularly the ability to recover from a cold start after being in sleep mode, you need to ensure that the Hybrid Sleep feature is available and enabled. Here are some steps and considerations that might help you troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue:

1. Check BIOS Settings: Ensure that your BIOS settings are configured to support Hybrid Sleep. Look for power management settings related to sleep states and make sure that any options for sleep or power saving are enabled.
2. Update BIOS: Since you mentioned updating the BIOS, ensure that you have the latest version installed. Sometimes, older versions may not support certain features.
3. Power Configuration: Run the command powercfg /h on in an elevated Command Prompt to ensure hibernation is enabled. This is crucial for Hybrid Sleep to work.
4. Check Power Options: Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings. Under the Sleep section, ensure that Hybrid Sleep is enabled for both battery and plugged-in states.
5. Driver Updates: Ensure that all drivers, especially chipset and power management drivers, are up to date. Sometimes, outdated drivers can prevent certain power states from being available.
6. Windows Updates: Make sure that your Windows 11 installation is fully updated, as updates can include important fixes for power management issues.
7. Powercfg Command: Use the command powercfg -availablesleepstates to check which sleep states are available. If Hybrid Sleep is missing, it indicates that either the firmware or the hypervisor is not supporting it, which could be due to the motherboard or CPU configuration.
8. Hypervisor Settings: If you are using virtualization software, check if it is affecting the power states. Sometimes, hypervisors can interfere with power management features.

If after trying these steps Hybrid Sleep is still not available, it may be a limitation of the specific hardware configuration or firmware settings on that particular system. You might want to consult the motherboard's manual or ASUS support for further assistance regarding Hybrid Sleep support.

References:

• System power states
• Allow sleep states

Hi Ian,

I can see why this is a tough one,you had everything working before, and now the behavior changed after the rebuild. The root cause looks tied to Hybrid Sleep being disabled, which is why the system can’t restore the desktop after a full power-off. Hybrid Sleep combines S3 sleep with hibernation, so when it’s missing, Windows only uses standard sleep, and powering off clears the session.

The fact that powercfg says “The hypervisor does not support this standby state” suggests virtualization-based security or Hyper-V is active, which can block Hybrid Sleep. First, check if Hyper-V or Virtual Machine Platform is enabled in Windows Features and try disabling them temporarily. Also, confirm that hibernation is enabled by running powercfg /hibernate on in an elevated command prompt.

After that, go to Power Options > Advanced settings and make sure Hybrid Sleep is set to “On” for both battery and plugged in. If those options don’t appear, it’s usually because the OS thinks the hardware or firmware doesn’t support it, so double-check BIOS settings for ACPI and sleep states, sometimes enabling “S4/S5” or “ErP” can affect this.

Did you enable Memory Integrity or Core Isolation in Windows Security? That can also block Hybrid Sleep. Let me know what you find.