With the arrival of Windows 10 , Microsoft introduced a new feature designed to speed up the startup of the operating system. This feature, known as “fast startup”, allows us to start the PC in seconds since, instead of loading everything from scratch, what it does is recover a copy of the Kernel at the time we turn off the PC, and load it in memory, saving several seconds with it. At first glance, this may seem like a great feature. However, if we look at it in detail, we can see that it is not as perfect as it seems.
Normal operation, until the arrival of Windows 10, meant that, when pressing the power button, the operating system would load from scratch, from the BIOS to the Windows Kernel and all the drivers. The fast startup of Windows 10, when it is activated, what it does is that when you turn off the computer, it closes the session and ends all programs and all processes. However, instead of completely erasing all the data in RAM, it dumps the part of the kernel and drivers that are loaded onto the hard disk.
Pressing the power button on the computer, instead of loading everything from scratch, loads the information that was saved on the hard drive at the time of shutdown and therefore the computer starts up much faster. This function is similar to hibernate, but with the difference that only the kernel is loaded , and not open programs.
Advantages of Windows 10 Quick Start
This feature of Windows 10 has several advantages, both for users and with respect to other functions of the operating system.
PC startup speed
The main advantage of Windows 10 Quick Start is that the system boots faster. But much. Even on the highest-end computers, the difference between a normal PC boot (for example, after a reboot) to the difference of booting from the quick start is quite noticeable.
The difference can be from having to wait 30 seconds for the desktop to be ready to having everything up and running in less than 15 seconds. This time difference is noticeable, especially when using SSD and NVMe drives, although we can also notice it with normal hard drives.
Quick startup takes up less space than hibernate
Windows 10 Quick Start is roughly an improved version of Hibernate. The main difference is that instead of saving all the applications in memory, it only saves the kernel and the Windows drivers. Therefore, although the system will boot with all programs closed, the disk space required to use this feature is much smaller than the space required to hibernate the PC.
If we are going to use Fast Boot, and not hibernate, we can reduce the reserved space to just 6 GB with the following command in a CMD window with Administrator permissions:
powercfg /h /type reduced
The reduction is quite considerable, something that we will appreciate, especially in SSD drives.
What drawbacks can we find?
Windows 10’s Fast Boot works great. And for an average user, its advantages are very interesting. But it is not a perfect function, nor recommended for everyone. Analyzing it in depth we can find a series of problems that we must take into account.
Conflicts between Quick Start and Dual Boot
The first of the problems that we will find when using this configuration is if we use two or more operating systems. A Dual Boot. As part of the Kernel is dumped to the hard disk, the unit will be blocked by the operating system, preventing other programs or systems from modifying the data.
This can lead to three different errors. The first of them, that we do not directly see the boot menu and Windows loads by default automatically when loading the PC. The second, that we select another operating system (Linux, for example), but since the Windows instance is on the disk, our Linux failed to load. And the third, that Linux starts up and works correctly (if we have it installed on another unit), but we cannot access the Windows unit as it is locked.
The only way to avoid problems when using a Dual Boot is to disable fast startup.
Windows crashes starting with Quick Start
It should also be taken into account that the longer the Kernel instance loaded on the PC spends, the more errors accumulate. As time goes by, we will notice that our PC begins to slow down than normal, and it may even happen that all kinds of errors appear, even blue screens. This is because, instead of reloading the Kernel and the drivers again every time the PC is turned on, we are using a version loaded long ago, which may have been modified or altered by programs, or by use itself. . And for that reason the instability increases.
The best way to solve this problem is to take care of restarting the computer by hand from time to time. When restarting, the kernel and drivers are not saved on the PC, but everything reloads again. Therefore, any possible errors will have been solved.
Problems with encryption tools, including BitLocker
If we use encryption software to protect the data on our hard drive, if we have Fast Boot activated it is very likely that we will have problems. And not only with third-party programs, but also with Microsoft’s own Bitlocker.
The encryption software is responsible for encrypting all the data saved on the disk so that, before turning on the PC, it asks us for a password. Without the password, this data cannot be read, not even by connecting the disk to another computer. If Windows saves the copy of its kernel to disk, and it is encrypted, it will not be able to read it. And, even if we unlock the disk, Windows will have already lost synchronization.
