Hibernating Dual-Booted Windows 11 and Windows 10: Keeping Your Switch
Dual-booting Windows 10 and Windows 11 on separate disks with BitLocker enabled can be a convenient way to switch between the two operating systems. However, one challenge that users may face is preserving the hibernation state when switching between the two operating systems. This article will explore how to achieve this and keep your hibernation switch.
Dual-Booting Windows 10 and Windows 11
Dual-booting allows users to install and run two or more operating systems on a single computer. In this case, we will focus on dual-booting Windows 10 and Windows 11 on separate disks with BitLocker enabled. BitLocker is a full disk encryption feature included with Windows 10 and Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions.
To dual-boot Windows 10 and Windows 11, you will need to install each operating system on a separate disk. During the installation process, you will be prompted to select the disk where you want to install the operating system. Make sure to select a different disk for each installation.
Enabling Hibernation
Hibernation is a power-saving state that allows you to save the current state of your computer and resume it later. To enable hibernation in Windows 10 and Windows 11, follow these steps:
- Press the Windows key + X and select Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
- Type
powercfg /hibernate onand press Enter.
This will enable hibernation on your computer. To confirm that hibernation is enabled, you can use the powercfg /a command, which will display a list of the power states that are available on your computer. If hibernation is enabled, it will be listed as "Hibernate."
Preserving the Hibernation State
Preserving the hibernation state when switching between dual-booted operating systems can be a challenge. By default, Windows will discard the hibernation state when you shut down or restart the operating system. However, there is a workaround that allows you to preserve the hibernation state when switching between dual-booted operating systems.
To preserve the hibernation state, you will need to create a separate system partition on each disk that contains the operating system. This partition will be used to store the hibernation state. Follow these steps to create a separate system partition:
- Press the Windows key + X and select Disk Management.
- Right-click on the disk that contains the operating system and select Shrink Volume.
- Shrink the volume by the amount of space that you want to allocate to the system partition. Make sure to leave enough space for the operating system and any other data that you want to store on the disk.
- Right-click on the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
- Follow the prompts to create a new simple volume. Make sure to format the volume as NTFS and assign it a drive letter.
Once you have created a separate system partition on each disk, you can preserve the hibernation state when switching between dual-booted operating systems. To do this, follow these steps:
- Hibernate the operating system that you are currently using.
- Restart the computer and select the other operating system from the boot menu.
- When the other operating system starts, it will detect that the previous operating system was hibernated and will prompt you to either resume the previous operating system or discard the hibernation state.
- Select Resume and the previous operating system will resume from the hibernation state.
Dual-booting Windows 10 and Windows 11 on separate disks with BitLocker enabled can be a convenient way to switch between the two operating systems. By creating a separate system partition on each disk, you can preserve the hibernation state when switching between the two operating systems. This will allow you to keep your hibernation switch and resume your work where you left off.