Quick start is a feature of Windows 10, but that sounds really interesting, because it actually allows you to start your PC as quickly as possible. This special option is rather hidden in Windows 10, it is automatically activated on many computers (compatible ones) starting from the installation of the system, while many prefer to keep it disabled.
To understand what Windows 10 quick start is and whether to keep this option on or off, let's start by understanding how the different ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) power states of the computer work. Without going too far into the technician, we can say that there are 4 power states for the PC: one called S0 which is the one ready and loaded, then three different states of suspension, S1, S2 and S3, plus a hybrid suspension state in which hibernation is used in conjunction with the sleep state.
Hibernation is considered an S4 power state. During hibernation, the PC appears to be completely shut down, but will keep a saved hibernation file ready to be used at reboot, which loads the last session of the user. Some energy is kept inside the peripherals so that you can, for example, restart the PC by touching the mouse or keyboard.
The S5 power state (soft off) is when the PC is completely shut down and restarted, with no hibernation file and no user session saved. To top it off, there is also a G3 power state, which is when the PC consumes absolutely no energy and is completely turned off.
With Quick Start enabled, when you go to shutdown your PC, it may appear that your computer is actually shutting down completely, while in reality it is entering a state that can be considered a mix between shutdown and hibernation . In Windows 10, when you turn off your PC with the quick start option on, a hibernation file is actually used, although it is smaller than when you use classic hibernation. In this case, in fact, the session is not saved and when you turn the PC back on, it does not resume from where it was interrupted. Only the operating system files, i.e. the Windows kernel, is saved to disk and loaded faster at startup than it would with normal shutdown. When you start your computer, Windows does not have to individually reload the kernel, driver and system state, but simply update the RAM with the image loaded from the hibernation file.
Quick start is a fairly harmless tool that can work for a noticeable increase in boot speed, especially for PCs that use traditional hard drives (HDDs). This mode speeds up boot and the computer really turns on quickly, without waiting, in seconds.
On the other hand, however, it may be preferable for a better stability of the system, that when you turn off the PC it is effectively reset without leaving anything in memory. In the case of active quick start, the only way to have a real shutdown is to restart the PC
This configuration is found in Control Panel \ Hardware and Sound \ Power Options and click on the link on the left: Specify power button behavior to define what happens when you press the off and on buttons (to find the control panel, search for from the Start menu).
Here you can activate or deactivate Activate quick start (recommended) . If the option is not modifiable, click on " Modify the currently unavailable settings " to activate it (this is not recommended because if it were gray and not activatable it would mean that it is not fully supported and by forcing the activation the PC could go in blue screen to the next reboot).
If hibernation is turned off, this quick start option will not be activated.
We saw in another guide how to activate hibernation in Windows 10 (synthetically, if supported, just open a command prompt as an administrator and run the powercfg.exe / hibernate on command).
With quick start activated, only rebooting will have the effect of a complete shutdown, while shutting down the PC it will hibernate partially.
To disable quick start, simply disable it by removing the option from the control panel screen.
In another article, Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10 .
First of all, as mentioned above, when quick start is enabled, the computer does not perform a regular shutdown. Therefore any system errors remain in memory, updates pending installation are not applied.
Also note that systems that do not support hibernation do not support quick start either. Some computers, in fact, do not support hibernation and even forcing this option you may encounter a critical error.
Also be careful not to use the Fast Boot on a PC that is configured in Dual Boot mode, because the boot of another operating system would no longer work.
Depending on your system, you may also not be able to access the BIOS / UEFI settings when you turn off a computer with Quick Start enabled.
To understand what Windows 10 quick start is and whether to keep this option on or off, let's start by understanding how the different ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) power states of the computer work. Without going too far into the technician, we can say that there are 4 power states for the PC: one called S0 which is the one ready and loaded, then three different states of suspension, S1, S2 and S3, plus a hybrid suspension state in which hibernation is used in conjunction with the sleep state.
Hibernation is considered an S4 power state. During hibernation, the PC appears to be completely shut down, but will keep a saved hibernation file ready to be used at reboot, which loads the last session of the user. Some energy is kept inside the peripherals so that you can, for example, restart the PC by touching the mouse or keyboard.
The S5 power state (soft off) is when the PC is completely shut down and restarted, with no hibernation file and no user session saved. To top it off, there is also a G3 power state, which is when the PC consumes absolutely no energy and is completely turned off.
With Quick Start enabled, when you go to shutdown your PC, it may appear that your computer is actually shutting down completely, while in reality it is entering a state that can be considered a mix between shutdown and hibernation . In Windows 10, when you turn off your PC with the quick start option on, a hibernation file is actually used, although it is smaller than when you use classic hibernation. In this case, in fact, the session is not saved and when you turn the PC back on, it does not resume from where it was interrupted. Only the operating system files, i.e. the Windows kernel, is saved to disk and loaded faster at startup than it would with normal shutdown. When you start your computer, Windows does not have to individually reload the kernel, driver and system state, but simply update the RAM with the image loaded from the hibernation file.
Quick start is a fairly harmless tool that can work for a noticeable increase in boot speed, especially for PCs that use traditional hard drives (HDDs). This mode speeds up boot and the computer really turns on quickly, without waiting, in seconds.
On the other hand, however, it may be preferable for a better stability of the system, that when you turn off the PC it is effectively reset without leaving anything in memory. In the case of active quick start, the only way to have a real shutdown is to restart the PC
How to turn Windows 10 Quick Start on or off
To find the option that activates and deactivates the quick start of Windows 10 you need to open the Control Panel .This configuration is found in Control Panel \ Hardware and Sound \ Power Options and click on the link on the left: Specify power button behavior to define what happens when you press the off and on buttons (to find the control panel, search for from the Start menu).
Here you can activate or deactivate Activate quick start (recommended) . If the option is not modifiable, click on " Modify the currently unavailable settings " to activate it (this is not recommended because if it were gray and not activatable it would mean that it is not fully supported and by forcing the activation the PC could go in blue screen to the next reboot).
If hibernation is turned off, this quick start option will not be activated.
We saw in another guide how to activate hibernation in Windows 10 (synthetically, if supported, just open a command prompt as an administrator and run the powercfg.exe / hibernate on command).
With quick start activated, only rebooting will have the effect of a complete shutdown, while shutting down the PC it will hibernate partially.
To disable quick start, simply disable it by removing the option from the control panel screen.
In another article, Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10 .
When it is best to disable Windows 10 quick start
Even though this option looks fantastic, there are a few reasons that keep it disabled .First of all, as mentioned above, when quick start is enabled, the computer does not perform a regular shutdown. Therefore any system errors remain in memory, updates pending installation are not applied.
Also note that systems that do not support hibernation do not support quick start either. Some computers, in fact, do not support hibernation and even forcing this option you may encounter a critical error.
Also be careful not to use the Fast Boot on a PC that is configured in Dual Boot mode, because the boot of another operating system would no longer work.
Depending on your system, you may also not be able to access the BIOS / UEFI settings when you turn off a computer with Quick Start enabled.
