Windows 8 Gets Hybrid Boot

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 17, 2011
Updated • Jun 25, 2018
Windows, Windows 8
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16

You probably know what hibernation is, right? Instead of shutting down the operating system you can use hibernation to save the content of the RAM to the hard drive to speed up the next start of the operating system and start working where you left off.

Hybrid Boot is a new feature of Windows 8 that was recently discovered in one of the latest builds. It uses the basic idea of hibernation but utilizes it solely for core operating systems files. This speeds up the start of the operating system considerably and is a continuation of fast booting improvements that Microsoft revealed earlier this year.

Hibernation should not be confused with sleep mode. Sleep Mode is a low power mode that does not shut down the computer completely.

Hybrid Boot is enabled by default in the latest builds and you use it automatically when you press the shutdown button of the start menu.

So, the difference between Hybrid Boot and Hibernation is the data that's saved for a faster system start.

Hybrid Boot reduced the startup time on systems to about 20 seconds according to Windows 8 News. It is too early to say if this is an average figure or achieved with high-end Solid State Disks or Raid setups.

It seems however as if all Windows 8 users could benefit from reduced startup times if Microsoft makes the decision to keep the feature included in the operating system.

Multi-boot computer users will notice a downside of Hybrid Boot: The boot manager of the system is not displayed if Windows 8 was shut down with Hybrid Boot enabled.

That's why there is an option to disable Hybrid Boot in Windows 8. The feature can be disabled in the Control Panel under Power Options.

windows 8 hybrid boot

Keep in mind that the information that we currently have may change at anytime during development. We keep you posted.

In other news: The Windows 8 Enterprise edition will feature an option to run the operating system from a portable drive.

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Windows 8 Gets Hybrid Boot
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Windows 8 Gets Hybrid Boot
Description
Hybrid Boot is a new feature of Microsoft's upcoming operating system Windows 8 that speeds up the boot process significantly.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. André said on August 16, 2011 at 1:14 am
    Reply

    If you want to understand how “Hybrid boot” works, read my guide here:

    http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=152937

    in my test Windows 8 boots in 12s with an old 5400rpm IDE HDD.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 16, 2011 at 8:24 am
      Reply

      Andre, that is actually a feature that I’m really looking forward.

  2. Ashley Pearson said on April 18, 2011 at 11:49 pm
    Reply

    I find this quite similar to other versions of Windows. And the privacy issues? Thats a little worrying?

  3. T-mobile Silver said on April 18, 2011 at 2:56 pm
    Reply

    Hmmm… that sounds pretty cool….. I hope someone could also design that for Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit…

  4. DanTe said on April 18, 2011 at 12:38 am
    Reply

    I’ll take the extra 20 seconds in boot time if it means I can completely shut down the machine and wipe any malware lurking in RAM or page files waiting for a reboot.

    1. Anonymous said on November 18, 2011 at 10:27 pm
      Reply

      Your RAM is cleared. This is hibernation, not sleep. Sleep keeps your RAM active. Hibernation utilizes your HDD. And this mode will utilize system files that are required for startup and exist on your HDD anyways. This will have no actual effect on malware. Besides, if you’re infected with malware, you must deal with the infection anyways. Simply turning your computer off to clear the RAM doesn’t change the fact that the infection is still there.

    2. Martin Brinkmann said on April 18, 2011 at 9:41 am
      Reply

      From the way I understand it, everything gets cleaned and only the data needed to boot the system is saved to the hard disk for faster booting. But that’s just a guess since I have not had the chance to test it yet.

  5. Anonymous said on April 18, 2011 at 12:23 am
    Reply

    How is this different than Windows 7 Hybrid Sleep mode?

    1. Anonymous said on November 18, 2011 at 10:24 pm
      Reply

      This is related to turning your computer on (from being shut down) for a faster start-up process. Hybrid sleep mode is where, when putting your computer to sleep (while it’s already running), your computer will hibernate *and* sleep, so that in the event of power loss during sleep, you can still recover your session.

    2. Martin Brinkmann said on April 18, 2011 at 9:39 am
      Reply

      You mean Sleep?

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