Why Is “Turn on Fast Startup” Greyed out on Windows?

Windows 10 lets you customize power settings to manage better how your computer uses power. For example, if you want to speed up your machine, enable Performance mode. Keep in mind that this option will drain your battery faster. If you don’t want that to happen, go for a Balanced plan.

Speaking of power options, many users complained the “Turn on fast startup” option is sometimes greyed out on their computers. As a quick reminder, this option helps your Windows computer to boot up faster after a shutdown.

What to Do If “Turn on Fast Startup” Is Greyed Out

Change Settings That Are Unavailable

Under “Define power button and turn on password protection,” there’s an option that says “Change settings that are currently unavailable.” Click on it, and the fast startup option should become clickable again.

Use an Admin Account

Keep in mind that you need to use an administrator account to edit the fast startup settings. If you’re using a guest user account, the option will remain greyed out even if you click on “Change Settings that are currently unavailable.”

Enable Sleep and Hibernate

Fast startup and Hibernate go hand-in-hand. As a matter of fact, you need to enable Hibernate first to use fast startup. If you disable Hibernate, Windows will automatically disable fast startup as well.

1. Go to Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Power Options → System Settings.
2. Then enable the settings that are not available.
3. Check the Sleep and Hibernate checkboxes and save the changes.
4. Check if the fast startup option is available now.

Tweak Your Registry

You can also use the Registry Editor to enable fast startup. Of course, you’ll need an admin account for that.

1. Type regedit in the Windows Start Search bar, and double-click on the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power.
3. Locate the HiberbootEnabled entry in the right pane.
   • If the entry is not available, right-click on an empty area in the left-hand pane, select New, and then DWORD (32 bit) Value.
   • Name the new entry HiberbootEnabled.
4. Double-click on the entry, and change its value from zero (fast startup is turned off) to 1 to enable the option.
5. Restart your computer, and check the results.

There you go; if the first three solutions did not do the trick, editing your Registry should solve the problem.

Conclusion

To sum up, if the “Turn on fast startup” option is greyed out in your Power settings, make sure you’re using an admin account. Then click on the option that says, “Change settings that are currently unavailable.” If Fast startup is still greyed out, enable Sleep and Hibernate in the Power menu. You can also tweak your Registry and set the HiberbootEnabled value to 1 to enable fast startup.

Did these solutions help you fix the problem? Let us know in the comments below.