Cannot activate hibernate because of PAE on Win XP 64 bit

I'm using Windows XP 64 bit SP2. I'd like to use the hibernate feature. I'm used to activate it under "Power Options". But my current installation doesn't show me the "Hibernate" tab.

I tired to activate is using command line:

powercfg -H on

It gives me an error that hibernate cannot be activated because the system is in PAE mode. This is some kind irritating because this article says that 64 bit windows does not support PAE.

Why am I not able to activate hibernate? Andy why do I get such an irritating error message?

PS: perhaps important informations: My computer runs on 12 GB ram.

Edit 1: My hard drive has 500GB free space.

user4085

Posted 2009-10-02T11:49:17.840

Reputation: 175

Do you have 12GB HDD space free? – MDMarra – 2009-10-02T11:51:49.600

Answers

You cannot put a computer that is running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008 into hibernation. Additionally, the Hibernate tab in the Power Options Properties dialog box is unavailable.

Notes This issue occurs if your computer has more than 4 gigabytes (GB) of random access memory (RAM). This issue occurs in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

admintech

Posted 2009-10-02T11:49:17.840

Reputation: 6 970

it never occurs in 32bit versions, as 32 bits are enough to address only 4GB RAM, meaning they won't even see the rest, so you're technically limited to 4GB The performance part is about the addressing mode, you can still use 4 bytes (32 bits) but your CPU will send 2 words per address – user3079666 – 2015-02-14T00:39:35.770

Those Windows 7 have the same problem? Because that wouldn't be really "future" proof – Ivo Flipse – 2009-10-02T12:02:20.670

1@Ivo: It's more about the performance with reading more than 4GB back from the HDD to memory. – Davy Landman – 2009-10-02T12:47:16.580

Ivo, W7 is fine. – Bender – 2009-10-02T12:52:57.620

in boot.ini, (under "[operating systems]" at the end of your active OS option) the option /maxmem=4096 got it working for me, but afterwards one of my sticks died and I can't seem to get it working again...

it may be possible to hack windows to get it working.
(as in, remove MS's off-switch on this)

EDIT: a 2nd restart fixed it for me

to add, don't set /maxmem above 4096 or you will re-enable PAE mode.

keep in mind though you limit yourself to only 4GB of memory for your system.
(if you use more than 4GB normally, don't use this)
^ chrome is good for using 4GB alone, where most other (non-chromium) browsers use much less.

Tcll

Posted 2009-10-02T11:49:17.840

Reputation: 101

welcome to superuser. Can you provide more detail as to what you mean by 'it may be possible to hack windows to get it working.'? Welcome and good luck. – I say Reinstate Monica – 2014-08-07T14:39:23.627

hi Twisty, what I mean is, you cannot hibernate when in PAE mode because MS disabled it, due to the performance issue of having to write 4+GB to your HDD, and how long it would take to hibernate. So there must be some way to re-enable it. (I don't know yet because I'm only a premier WinXP hacker (I only hack my windows), but I'll tell how once and if I figure it out) also, I'd like to mention another restart fixed it for me, and I can hibernate again. :) – Tcll – 2014-08-08T15:49:03.620

In my new Windows XP64 I opened "C:\boot.ini", but where do you add the line "/maxmem=4096"? Is it under "[boot loader]"? or under "[operating systems]"? or do I add another section? which one? TIA – Michel Merlin – 2014-09-12T10:01:00.370

sorry, yea it's under [operating systems] – Tcll – 2014-09-12T14:29:52.453