Some motherboard manufacturers, for different reasons, do not activate the so-called Fast Boot in their BIOS/UEFI by default, but this is generally very useful to gain speed when starting our PC. In this article we will see what this fast boot is based on, how it works and when we should activate it on our PC , since it is not always a good idea.
Quick start: how does it work?
Fast boot or Fast Boot on PC is a technology that was implemented natively in Windows 8 and that combines two totally opposed sections at first: normal boot or also called cold boot and hibernation mode.
When we turn off the PC normally and without fast boot, Windows closes all the software that is open first, then closes the user’s session and finally disconnects the system, entering sleep mode waiting to be turned on again.
What Fast Boot mode does is interfere right at the point of user session closure where moments before it keeps the Windows kernel and the drivers that support this mode in a kind of hibernation mode, saving the current state of the system in a file , then shut down the system.
When we reboot the PC and go through the BIOS/UEFI POST , Windows doesn’t have to load everything that’s already saved in that file, it just dumps the previous OS state image from the hibernate file into RAM and places it at system startup, saving time on it and making everything much faster.
Logically, this differs from normal hibernation, where the entire configuration is saved and we pick up where we left off. This fact also differs in another point of the typical hibernation system that is more noticeable, for example, in laptops.
And it is that this Fast Boot on PC is not affected by the loss of system energy, that is, if the power goes out or we disconnect the PC from the power supply cable or even if we cut off the supply using the power button. it, Fast Boot will be enabled and will do its job correctly, which does not happen in hibernation mode.
Disadvantages of Fast Boot on PC
Like any technology, it has its drawbacks, since sometimes we will need to not have it active to perform certain tasks or functions. For example, there are programs that need a complete shutdown to take effect, and until recently some Windows updates required it. We see another similar scenario when we install a BIOS from Windows or update a firmware. In these cases the common shutdown is necessary and recommended.
Encrypting systems also need a normal shutdown so as not to continually mount an older encrypted image, or for example, common shutdown will also be needed on systems without hibernation support, where the problems can be quite large.
How to activate it in Windows
To activate Fast Boot with all its functionalities, two clear steps are needed, where the first one is to activate it in Windows , to later activate it in our BIOS or UEFI , depending on our motherboard and platform.
Starting with the activation in Windows, the first thing we need is to go to the Windows control panel and then go to the power options section.
Once inside we must click on ” choose the behavior of the start/stop buttons ” which is located in the upper left part of the window.
Already inside we will have to click on the ” change the configuration currently not available ” button to be able to access the options that we do not have available until that moment and that, as we can see, are visible in the lower section of the window, but not accessible.
Being already unlocked we will have to mark ” activate fast start (recommended) “, to later press the “save changes” button.
So far everything is simple and we would have already done the first part.
How to activate Fast Boot in the BIOS/UEFI of your PC
Let’s start with the second and perhaps somewhat more complicated part of this process. To do this we will have to restart the system and enter the BIOS / UEFI.
To achieve this, on its loading screen we will have to press one of these keys: DELETE, F2, F1 or F10 in some cases. On laptops, these keys may need to press the FN key at the same time as F2, F1 and F10, since otherwise the key that we press is not activated as such and we would have a laptop function that will vary between models and manufacturers.
In other words, you would have to press FN+F2 in the case of this last key or the corresponding one. This does not happen on PC because the function keys are just that, independent function keys.
Each motherboard and manufacturer uses one of these keys to enter, so if we don’t know which one it is, we will have to try or search for information about our equipment. Normally F2 or Delete is being standardized, but that’s been on motherboards for about 5 years now. We insist that if you can’t get into the BIOS/UEFI you look in the user manual how to do it, because it will be specific to the board or laptop.
Once inside we will have to go or move to the Boot or start section, this also differs on each board and BIOS/UEFI .
Being already there, we will only have to enable said setting , where as a general rule some more options will be associated, where in principle we would not have to touch anything, since it must start correctly with the default settings. Once this is done, we will have to choose the corresponding boot disk , be it our SSD or our HDD.
In our case it is a Corsair MP510, which as you can see is called ” Windows Boot Manager “. Once this is done, we will press F10 to save the changes , where once we enter Windows again we can turn off our PC to see how the fast startup occurs as soon as we turn it on again.