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Thread: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

  1. #1
    Jordan Guest

    cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Running Windows Server 2008 Standard Service Pack 1 on a machine that does
    not support hibernation, I have a 2048GB hiberfil.sys (equal to the amount of
    memory) and I wish to remove it to save space.

    The article below states the step necessary to disable hibernation.
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730

    Following these steps, this returns an error shown below:

    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe /hibernate off
    Hibernation failed with the following error: The request is not supported.

    The following items are preventing hibernation on this system.
    An internal system component has disabled hibernation.

    I have tried the following combinations and all fail in the same manner.

    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe /hibernate off
    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe -hibernate off
    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe -h off
    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe /h off

    I am using a command prompt as an administrator. If I were not an using an
    admin command prompt, it would return this error:
    You do not have permission to enable or disable the Hibernate feature.

    If I am using Windows Vista Ultimate, this file is easy to delete. I can use
    the Disk Cleanup option and it will automatically modify my power settings to
    disable this option and delete the file.

    I have the Desktop experience enabled as a feature and Disk Cleanup now
    appears, but this does not show the option to delete this file.

    I have seen some posts that refer to problems with the graphics drivers as a
    cause for problems with hibernation. This makes sense as you need to be able
    re-initialize the graphics card correctly when resuming from hibernate. I do
    currently have a graphics card that is reporting problems (Error Code 43). I
    hasn't caused me any problems in using my computer. I have the latest drivers
    for my graphics card (3/27/2009). I don't know if this issue is related, only
    a thoery. I still would like to diable hibernate regardless of my problem
    with my graphics card.

  2. #2
    Pegasus [MVP] Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Since hibernation is already turned off, you should delete the hibernation
    file by other means, e.g. by booting the machine with a Bart PE boot CD and
    getting rid of the file. If you're concerned that this might cause other
    problems, rename it only as a first step, then see what happens.

  3. #3
    Jordan Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    I tried renaming it first, but it's in-use. It's actually created each time
    the computer boots to Windows, it's not there when you boot to a command
    prompt.
    So this would suggest that Hibernation is still enabled, but something, as
    the error message suggest an "internal system component" disables hibenation
    after boot but doesn't remove the file or prevent creation of the file.

    See the dir listing when booting from a command prompt:

    5 File(s) 2,460,382,645 bytes
    18 Dir(s) 6,441,037,824 bytes free

    C:\>

    Then after booting to windows and then running the same command prompt:

    C:\>dir *.* /A DHSR
    Volume in drive C has no label.
    Volume Serial Number is E84A-6037

    6 File(s) 4,606,608,821 bytes
    18 Dir(s) 4,276,563,968 bytes free

    Thanks for the suggestion, but it's not going work for me.

    Hey Windows 2008, gimme my 2GB back from a feature I'm not even using! :)
    I know this is only 2GB, and these days 2GB is nothing to most. My first
    hard drive was a 20 Megabyte Seagate hard drive.

  4. #4
    Pegasus [MVP] Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Your main problem is, of course, how to turn off the hibernation feature
    when Windows claims that it is already turned off. I am unable to offer any
    advice on this issue. However, you can probably pull a trick out of the
    dirty tricks book by preventing the file from being created: Boot into a
    non-Windows Command Prompt, then create a *folder* called c:\Hiberfil.sys.
    Non only will this trick prevent the file from being created but it may also
    give you a hint where to look for the unwanted hibernation feature.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    1

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    I don't know if you have tried this yet but seems to have worked for me.
    Open Regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg
    You should see CurrentPowerPolicy and the Value is set to 0 change that Value to 3 and then run from an administrator command prompt powercfg.exe /h off
    I've rebooted the server a couple of times and so far the Hiberfil.sys hasn't returned.
    And the server is Server 2008 SP1 X64.
    Hope this helps.

  6. #6
    Farooq Khan Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Go to control Panel>power Option>
    than change settings to high Performance
    Now from administrator command prompt type powercfg.exe /h off
    then check the file.(it will be removed)

    I am using Windows 2008 Enterprise Server SP1.
    Hope this will help you.

  7. #7
    Jordan Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Thanks for the reply. I am already set to high performance.

    I still get the following error:
    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe /h off
    Hibernation failed with the following error: The request is not supported.

    The following items are preventing hibernation on this system.
    An internal system component has disabled hibernation.

    And the hiberfil.sys is still locked and present.

  8. #8
    Jordan Guest

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    I changed my reg key from 0 to 3. I rebooted and the file still persists.
    I think I am just going to have to live with the extra 2GB.

    It also looks like 32-bit processors will not be supported for Windows
    Server 2008 R2, so there is little hope that I can get this file removed with
    a bug fix.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    1

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    I ran into the same issue. I was able to remove the file by re-enabling hibernation (powercfg -h on) then immediately turning it off and successfully removing the file (powercfg -h off).

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    11

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    givensde - that was the only thing that worked for me - server 2008 x64 Std. Thanks!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    2

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    i just signed up to share the solution that worked for me.
    I was actually googling for the same issue on Windows 7 and the comment about editing the registry led me to my solution.

    I went into hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\power
    In here, i modified 2 keys. HibernateEnabled was set to 1, i changed it to 0, and just in case that didn't work, i also change HiberFileSizePercent from 4b(75) to 1 so that if it somehow stayed enabled, at least the hiberfil.sys would be very small

    I am working with Virtual Machines and most of them don't require space at all, other than what's needed to install windows updates and a few softwares so we're trying to keep the disk size to a minimum. That 2.5gb hiberfil.sys file was preventing me from installing SP1. The strange thing is, it only happened on 1 of the 3 Windows 7 VMs i'm working on...even more strange is that they were all fresh installs.

    Weird how 3 fresh installs, identical, can behave differently. Oh well, hopefully that'll work for some of you

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    2

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Hi Guys,
    I know this is a really old thread but still relevant.
    I'm having exactly the same problem. Windows 2008 R2 SP2(32bit) 4GB RAM. I have tried all the solutions including creating a folder named hiberfil.sys and setting the permissions so that no one has permissions to do anything. The hiberfil.sys doesn't exist while running in safe mode by the way and is only created when booted into normal mode.

    When I run the following command in a administrator CMD prompt

    C:\Users\Administrator>powercfg.exe /h off

    I receive the following message.

    Hibernation failed with the following error: The request is not supported.
    The following items are preventing hibernation on this system.
    There are one or more legacy drivers installed:
    dcesm

    My registry setting for CurrentPowerPolicy is already set to 3

    My registry contains the folder
    hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\power
    But the keys mentioned by Cholette don't exist there or anywhere else in the registry and I'm a bit reluctant to start creating stuff without knowing for sure what will happen.

    So if anyone else sumbles across this thread and figures out the answer I’d love to know how you solved it.

    Thanks
    David

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    2

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    I personally wouldn't be afraid to create those registry keys as I don't think it can hurt the system, but if this is a critical server i'd probably be hesitant too.

    Any luck trying to find what that driver is?

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    2

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Hi Cholette,
    It's a development server not production so not the end of the world if I break it, but I like it :)

    It is probably a video driver causing the problem from the other stuff I have read. It is an older Dell server probably built around the time of Windows 2000 so I don't expect to be able to find current drivers for the video card. I almost never sit at the console so the generic drivers are just fine with 1024x768 resolution.

    I'll give those registry settings a try and post back with the results.

    Thanks for responding to such an old thread. Probably a blast from the past :)

    David

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    1

    Re: cannot turn off hibernation to remove hiberfil.sys

    Hi

    I couldnt see if you had tried the solution mentioned above:

    First turn on Powercfg (Powercfg /h on) and then right after you turn it off again (Powercfg /h off). This removed the hiberfil.sys files on my servers.

    Any other solutions I have tried did not solve this problem.

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