Fast Startup is one of those features that looks too good to ignore. Microsoft says it will make your PC start faster, and it really does. That’s why you see that “Recommended” tag plastered next to it in the power settings.
But the way it achieves that speed can create more problems than it solves. Fast Startup sacrifices a truly fresh system state, which can lead to quirky bugs, failed updates, and issues with external drives or dual-boot setups. In other words, Fast Startup is fast but not always friendly.
What fast startup actually does
It fakes a shutdown to boot faster
Fast Startup sounds like one of those no-brainer Windows features everyone should turn on. Who doesn’t want their PC to start up faster, right? The name makes it sound like it just trims down your boot time with some clever optimization magic. But what it actually does is a bit sneakier than that.
Normally, when you shut down your PC, Windows closes all your programs, signs you out, and stops every running process before turning off completely. It’s a clean slate. But with Fast Startup enabled, Windows doesn’t really shut down all the way. Instead, it does a kind of half-hibernation.
Here’s what happens: Windows closes your apps and signs you out, but it keeps the core system session—the Windows kernel and drivers—running in a suspended state. It then writes that system state to your hard drive in a special file called hiberfil.sys. When you power your computer back on, Windows doesn’t have to reload everything from scratch; it simply reads the saved system state back into memory.
It sounds a lot like hibernation because it actually uses the same hibernation file. The difference is that Fast Startup logs you off before creating the file, so none of your active apps or open documents are saved. So yes, Fast Startup does make your PC power up faster, since Windows skips a big chunk of the startup process. The catch is your PC never really shuts down completely.
Why I don’t use Windows Fast Startup anymore
The speed comes with a price
For a while, I kept Fast Startup on because, well, it came that way by default. But over time, those “few seconds saved” started to cost me more in small, frustrating ways.
After a while, I started running into little annoyances that I couldn’t quite explain. System updates wouldn’t always apply correctly. My external drives occasionally refused to show up after a restart. And every now and then, Windows acted like it hadn’t completely reset after shutting down, almost as if it was clinging to a version of itself that should’ve been gone.
I once replaced the RAM stick and was confused when Windows started acting oddly afterward. It wasn’t until later that I realized Fast Startup had cached parts of the old system state, which confused hardware detection on the next boot.
Then there’s the issue with dual-boot setups. Because Fast Startup keeps certain system partitions locked, Windows still treats them as “in use” even when the computer appears to be off. If you boot into another operating system, like Linux, and try to access those drives, you risk corrupting your data. That alone was enough for me to turn off Fast Startup for good.
Disabling fast startup on Windows
How to shut it down for good
Once you’ve decided Fast Startup isn’t worth the trouble, turning it off is thankfully pretty simple. It just takes a quick trip into your system settings.
- Open the Control Panel using the search menu.
- Click on Power Options. Click on Hardware and Sound first if you don’t see it right away.
- Select Choose what the power buttons do on the left sidebar.
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable option.
- Uncheck Turn on fast startup (recommended) and hit Save changes.
That’s it. Windows will now perform a full shutdown every time. Your computer might take a few extra seconds to boot, but it’ll also start with a clean slate with no cached system state, no locked drives, and far fewer weird surprises.
What I do instead for faster boot times
Boost boot time the smart way
Turning off Fast Startup doesn’t mean I’ve resigned myself to staring at a loading screen. In fact, there are better, cleaner ways to make your system start quickly.
The biggest improvement came from trimming down my startup programs. You’d be surprised how many apps sneak their way into the startup list, from cloud storage clients and chat apps to update managers and even random utilities you installed once and forgot about. Every one of them adds a few seconds to your boot time.
Disabling the ones I don’t need immediately made a huge difference. You can do this easily by opening Task Manager, switching to the Startup tab, and turning off anything you don’t need to launch right away. I also went a step further and disabled a few unnecessary background services and scheduled tasks that insisted on running every time my PC booted.
Fast Startup promises speed, but those extra seconds aren’t worth it for me. On a PC with an SSD, the difference in startup time without Fast Startup is barely noticeable, so I prefer a clean, full shutdown every time. If you’re still using a system with an HDD, hibernating your PC can be a better option. It offers startup faster than a full shutdown while still allowing a complete restart when needed.