How do I hibernate my computer?

How do I hibernate my computer?

When the computer hibernates, all of your applications and documents are stored and the computer completely switches off so it does not use any power, but the applications and documents will still be open when you switch on the computer again.

Unfortunately, hibernate doesn't work in many cases, which can cause you to lose data if you expect your documents and applications to re-open when you switch your computer back on. Therefore, hibernate is disabled by default.

Test if hibernate works

You can use the command line to test if hibernate works on your computer.

• Open the Terminal by searching for terminal in the Activities overview.
• As root, type pm-hibernate into the terminal and press enter
• After you computer turns off, switch it back on. Did your open applications re-open?

If hibernate doesn't work, check if your swap partition is at least as large as your available RAM.

Enable hibernate

If the hibernate test works, you can continue to use the pm-hibernate command when you want to hibernate.

You could also install the [Status Button] extension from the [Extensions website]:

• Switch ON the Hibernate Status Button on [extension page] by pressing the status button at the top left.
• You will be asked to confirm that you want to install the extension. Press Install.