Windows 10 can enter a special low-power state called Sleep only if your hardware supports it.
The computer can return from Sleep mode more quickly than from a normal startup. Depending on your hardware, there may be a number of sleep modes available on your computer. That is, how many sleep modes your computer has does not depend on your operating system, since Windows 10 supports all modes, but on your computer's hardware.
The operating system supports multiple power states that correspond to the power states defined in the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification.
The following table lists the ACPI power states from highest to lowest power consumption.
| FORCE | ACPI | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | S0 | The system is fully usable. Unused hardware can save you energy by going into a lower power state |
| Sleep (Modern Standby) | S0 low power idle | Some SoC systems support a low-power sleep state, known as Modern Standby . In this state, the system can very quickly switch from a low-power state to a high-power state so that it can respond quickly to hardware and network events. Systems that support Modern Standby do not use S1-S3. |
| Sleep | S1 S2 S3 | The system appears to be off. The power consumed in these states (S1-S3) is less than S0 and more than S4. S3 consumes less power than S2, and S2 consumes less power than S1. Systems typically support one of these three states, not all three. In these states (S1-S3), RAM is kept refreshed to maintain the system state. Some components remain powered so that the computer can be woken up by a keyboard command or by LAN or a USB device. Hybrid Sleep, used in desktop computers, is when a system uses a hibernation file with S1-S3. The hibernation file saves the system state in case the system loses power during sleep. Note: SoC systems that support modern standby do not use S1-S3. |
| Hibernate | S4 | The system appears to be off. Power consumption is reduced to the lowest level. The system saves the contents of RAM to a hibernation file to maintain the system state. Some components remain powered on so that the computer can be woken up by a command via keyboard, LAN, or from a USB device. The desktop environment can be restored if it is not saved in RAM. Fast Startup occurs when the user logs off before the hibernation file is created. This allows for a smaller hibernation file, more suitable for systems with less storage capacity. |
| Soft Off | S5 | The system appears to be powered off. This state consists of a complete shutdown and startup cycle. |
| Mechanical Off | G3 | The system is completely powered down and does not consume any power. The system returns to operating mode only after a complete restart. |
To find the available sleep states of your hardware in Windows 10, do the following.
Step 1: Open a command prompt with administrator privileges.
Step 2: Type or copy-paste the following command: powercfg -a
You will see all the sleep modes supported by your computer.
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