7 Best Ways to Fix Hibernate Going to Lock Screen Error in Windows 10

Not to be confused with the Sleep feature in Windows OS, Hibernate mode saves battery, but the best part is that you can close the lid to activate it. Several users reported a bug where their computer went to lock the screen instead of hibernate. While not earth-shattering, it’s still a pain point.

Hibernation aims to save valuable battery water without closing open apps and allows users to get up and running quickly. A lock screen, on the other hand, is to prevent intruders from accessing your valuable data. The computer is still running and you should see the lock screen when waking the computer from hibernation.

Let’s take a look at some solutions.

1. Turn Off or Remove Lock Screen and Password

This is a temporary solution until you find what’s bothering your computer. Turning off your computer is simple, but before you do that you need to save all open files.

You can easily disable the lock screen in Windows 10 and re-enable it is just as easy. We recommend that you fix hibernation, which still leads to the lock screen error as the lock screen is there for some reason. If that doesn’t work, there is also a way to remove the windows password, but this will only work for the local account, not the Microsoft account.

2. Power Recycling

Unplug or unplug the charging cable from your laptop. Now, press and hold the power button for a few minutes until the laptop shuts down. Again, wait a few minutes and turn on the power.

3. Run the Power Troubleshooter

Every version of Windows comes with a troubleshooter that can find and fix a number of common errors users encounter on their computers. There’s also one for power.

Stage 1: Press Windows key+I to open Settings and search for ‘Find and fix problems with your computer’s power settings’.

Step 2: In the popup that follows, select ‘Apply repairs automatically’ and click Next to follow the on-screen instructions.

The only way to check if hibernate goes to lock screen is to hibernate the computer.

4. Close Background Apps

An application running in the background may be preventing the computer from hibernating. Stop the running process or wait for it to finish. An example would be antivirus running a periodic scan in the background. There are too many apps running in the background.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch the Task Manager to check the running tasks and processes under the Processes tab. To end a running task, right-click on it and select End task. We do not recommend closing system processes necessary to run your computer. Instead, focus on the apps you know and use.

5. Create a New Power Profile

When you first install the operating system, a default power profile is created on your Windows computer. You can edit it as you wish or create a new one from scratch. To troubleshoot hibernation, we recommend creating a new profile.

Stage 1: Open Windows Settings again by pressing Windows key+I and go to System > Power & Sleep and select Additional power settings.

Step 2: Click on ‘Create power plan’.

Name your new power plan and set the timers for sleep and other modes as you wish, and finally save the changes.

6. Display Driver

When you put the computer to sleep or hibernate mode, the screen turns off. A faulty display driver may prevent the screen from turning off, resulting in a lock screen. We’ve covered updating, rolling back and reinstalling drivers before.

You can find the display drivers in Device Manager under Display adapters.

7. Re-enable Hibernate

Disabling and re-enabling hibernation can help you get things started quickly on your end.

Stage 1: Search for Command Prompt in the start menu and click ‘Run as administrator’ to start it with the correct permissions.

Step 2: Type the following command to turn off hibernation. Replace ‘off’ with ‘on’ to enable it.

powercfg /hibernate off

More Power to You

The hibernation feature is useful. It allows you to maximize battery power while traveling or roaming without saving and closing all files and applications. Everything will be as you left it. And there are several ways to enable hibernation. As we discussed earlier, you can do it from the Start menu > Power options or close the lid.

Hope these solutions helped and now the computer hibernates instead of going to the lock screen. Have you tried locking your computer before enabling hibernation? It has worked for many.

Next: Does it shut down every time you put your computer to sleep or hibernate? Here are some solutions to help you solve this problem effectively.