# Desktop Shutdown and Standby/Hibernate Icons



## yabbadoo (Dec 18, 2011)

I have recently discovered a simple mean of adding desktop icons to cover Shutdown and Hibernate/Standby. It is extremely useful in avoiding the click Start standard procedure.

You go to your desktop, right click and then click new shortcut, you get a Wizard, then paste in the command for the location type in one of the below commands (in your case, %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState ). Then click Next. You are asked to give it a title - Standby, Hibernate or Shutdown, then click Finish.

These are the choices :-

Shutdown: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s 
Reboot: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -r 
Logoff: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -l 
Standby: %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 
Hibernate: %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

Use CNTRL+C to copy and CNTRL+V to paste.

The Hibernate is automatic if the Hibernate box is checked in the Power Options properties panel. If the box is not checked, then Standby is automatic. You have to select this box to give you the option you want. I use Standby when frequently leaving and returning to my machine and Hibernate when leaving for long periods. The difference between power usage is so low it does not really matter and Standby is a faster return.

Hibernate practically shuts the machine down whilst Standby leaves it on a power trickle. You can leave it on Hibernate for as long as you wish. You have to keep changing the Power Options Hibernate to obtain what you want.

The Hibernate checkbox is found by Control Panel>Power Options>Hibernate. But it is easier to click the Task Bar Links and select the On AC Power icon - rt click it and click Adjust Power Properties. The Power Options panel comes up. Then click Hibernate.

The On AC Power icon can be found by rt click the Task Bar>Properties>Customise, then use the vertical slider to find it.
Set to Always Hide, or Always Show if you wish.

The two desktop icons can be changed by Right clicking the icon then Properties>Change Icon>Browse>Windows 32>shell32dll>select icon>OK>Apply>OK

Then you have two brand new icons on your desktop for Shutdown and Standby/Hibernate. It works a treat.​


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## Ent (Apr 11, 2009)

Great tip.

If you're making this a batch file instead of a shortcut you can make it a bit more complicated, such as creating a prompt for confirmation to make sure you don't shut down accidentally.

Conversely there is also the option of using the /f switch with the shutdown command to prevent other software from being warned; this can be dangerous as you lose risking work, but helps to avoid those stupid "one or more programs is preventing windows from shutting down" screens.


I thought that hibernate was 
shutdown /h
But I guess there can be more than one way to do a thing.


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## vic2pc (Jan 16, 2012)

Hibernating is great because your PC starts up almost instantly at the next boot, and all your running apps are still active. This means that apps that involve long processing functions, such as VirtualDub, that can't be stopped and restarted, can actually be paused and then your PC hibernated. When it reboots, you can unpause VirtualDub and continue the processing again. Very nice.

Just don't forget that hibernation uses as much hard drive space on your C: drive as the amount of RAM your PC has, so a 2 GB RAM machine will need 2 GB of free space on C: for hibernation to work.


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## yabbadoo (Dec 18, 2011)

vic2pc said:


> Just don't forget that hibernation uses as much hard drive space on your C: drive as the amount of RAM your PC has, so a 2 GB RAM machine will need 2 GB of free space on C: for hibernation to work.


Hi Vic,

I know your comment above is 100% correct, but am a little confused by my data, can you put me straight please ? I cannot relate the small 447 MB of RAM shown to the huge 56.9 GB of free space or to the "2 GB RAM machine" comment, with regard to satisfactory Hibernation. Just cannot knit these figures together. And to add to my confusion, the System details shows a Total Virtual Memory of 2 GB. Guess I am getting lost. Help !

My computer data is :-
















OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Dual Core Processor 5200B, x86 Family 15 Model 107 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 447 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 78528 MB, Free - 58238 MB; 
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., M61PME-S2P, x.x, 
Antivirus: AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

My GB usage is :-










System details :-


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## vic2pc (Jan 16, 2012)

Whatever the "Total Physical Memory" size is, is what the "c:\hiberfil.sys" file size will be. 

So, if your PC has 2 GB of physical RAM installed, and your C: drive has only 1 GB of free space, then Hibernation won't work and will be disabled.


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