Hibernate computer with a timeout from command line on Windows 7

Question

I am trying to hibernate my computer from the command. I was using shutdown /s /t 20 to shutdown the the computer. I change /s to /h to hibernate and now it just returns the usage text as if it doesn't recognise what I have entered. In this is does say

/h         Hibernate the local computer.

Is there something else that I need to use with /h to get it to hibernate?

But in this case (the case that you use waitfor or something like that) you can't abort the scheduled hibernation.... — , Feb 03 '12 at 21:57

Phoshi · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-03T08:10:00.260

91

I don't believe you can set a time for hibernation, unfortunately.

Try:

ping -n 20 127.0.0.1 > NUL 2>&1 && shutdown /h /f

The ping is a hackish way of delaying the action. -n 20 should wait for 20 seconds.

(the double && will allow you to do a Ctrl+C to cancel the operation, but if you use a simple & then pressing Ctrl+C will only break the timer and then continue to shut down)

edited Oct 03 '19 at 08:10

answered Dec 15 '09 at 10:03

Phoshi

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haha, +1 for this nice "sleep" replacement :) i wrote my own .exe to do this, but .. hehahahahr. – akira May 26 '10 at 07:42
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Why we can't set time for hibernate? it wouldn't difficult for windows developers to allow this feature. but why they didn't? O.o – Amirreza Nasiri Oct 17 '14 at 04:35
Nice but && not working in powershell – Dr Deo Oct 12 '18 at 20:06
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Note: the `> NUL 2>&1` part will prevent any output from the `ping` (for more see [related question](https://stackoverflow.com/a/30814001/8740349)). – Top-Master Oct 03 '19 at 04:38

score 46 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

46

You could also consider using "timeout" or "waitfor" commands in a similar manner.

timeout /t 20 /NOBREAK > NUL && shutdown /h

or

waitfor NUL /t 20 || shutdown /h

More here: How do I make a batch file wait / sleep for some seconds?

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

Community

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answered May 07 '11 at 09:18

Radko Dinev

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Both options works, but **the first is better**. If you want to cancel the command via Ctrl+C, the first option will be canceled, but the second will receive a `false` in the first condition and jump to `shutdown` command directly. – IgniteCoders Jun 14 '18 at 15:43
The second example can be made better by using `waitfor NUL /t 20 && shutdown /h` instead. – Richard Sep 17 '20 at 06:46

score 13 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 10 '12 at 16:46

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I use the following:

sleep 20 && shutdown /h /f

Or this if I want it off at a certain time:

At 22:30 shutdown /h /f

edited Oct 10 '12 at 16:46

Indrek

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answered Jul 16 '12 at 15:55

Craig

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i hsve tried the command `At 22:30 shutdown /h /f`in cmd prompt , i got a message like access denied but i'm the admin in my pc. awaiting for your respose – Smart003 May 27 '18 at 05:11
I believe in Windows 10 they've changed the permissions required to use 'at'. It's only intended for system jobs and you have to be SYSTEM account in order to execute it. Yes, SYSTEM is more privileged that admin accounts (locally) and yes, there is a way to get a command prompt under the SYSTEM account. – Thanasis Kapelonis Nov 30 '18 at 03:42

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 30 '20 at 11:45

Of course you can set TIME for hibernation.

If you really want to hibernate your computer after a specific time, all you need to do is to enter this command below into the cmd. i.e:

timeout /t 36000 /nobreak && shutdown /h

Now the computer will start to count down from 36000 to 0 before it will hibernate. But you should note that you can change 36000 into any number of seconds that suits you.

score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 15 '09 at 10:03

9

I think that it complains about time. Just put shutdown /h and it should work.

answered Dec 15 '09 at 10:03

Josip Medved

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score 3 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

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If you have cygwin it's very simple: sleep 45m && shutdown /h

You can instruct sleep in minutes, hours, seconds and even days. Check out this answer about sleep.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Community

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answered Jun 27 '15 at 11:22

Dominykas Mostauskis

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score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 18 '17 at 16:53

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I was also searching for timed hibernate for long time. Finally I made the following solution:

Create a bat file as below:

timeout /t %1 /nobreak && shutdown /h

Suppose it is saved in C:\hibernate.bat

Then open Run command (Win+R) and run the bat file with the timeout seconds as below:

C:\hibernate.bat [timeout]

edited Feb 18 '17 at 16:53

bertieb

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answered Feb 18 '17 at 16:05

user3702551

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The best solution IMHO. It's not hackish (like using `ping`, or redirecting `timeout` to `NUL`), it's practical. – Petr Bodnár Jan 09 '20 at 18:24

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 07 '21 at 12:05

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If you are using PowerShell or have the Windows terminal as your default command-line interface then this is the only solution that has worked for me:

sleep 30 | shutdown /h /f

Of course you can change 30 to whatever amount of seconds you would like.

edited Aug 07 '21 at 12:05

Dave M

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answered Aug 07 '21 at 10:10

CoolYellowBear

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Could you explain the need for /f parameter? Just `sleep 30 | shutdown /h` worked fine for me. Also, hibernation needs to be enabled, in order for this command to work. – zigzag Jul 20 '22 at 06:49
Update: now it hibernates instantly when using the `|` pipeline operator (PowerShell 7), but works correctly using the `&&` pipeline operator: `sleep 30 && shutdown /h` – zigzag Dec 03 '22 at 00:57

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Jul 27 '11 at 02:17

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Did you try the Windows Task Scheduler? If you have the script you can set it to run at a certain time - this should answer the time delay question.

edited Jul 27 '11 at 02:17

Gaff

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answered Jul 26 '11 at 07:17

Bill

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 23 '13 at 23:26

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i always use this:

shutdown -h

answered Feb 23 '13 at 23:26

annonymous

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It doesn’t matter, you can’t time a hibernation (for some reason). – Synetech Dec 14 '13 at 23:38
@Synetech It wouldn't difficult for windows developers to allow this feature. but why they didn't? O.o – Amirreza Nasiri Oct 17 '14 at 04:35

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 17 '20 at 06:35

Here is a VBScript that will prompt for the number of seconds before hibernation:

Dim intSeconds,wshShell
intSeconds = InputBox("Enter number of seconds to wait","Hibernate timer")
Wscript.Sleep intSeconds
Set WshShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "shutdown.exe -h -f"

score -2 · Answer 12 · edited Mar 08 '14 at 17:56

-2

Instead of / use -.

Use the below command in the CMD as admin priv and test

shutdown -h

edited Mar 08 '14 at 17:56

Kevin Panko

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answered Mar 08 '14 at 17:36

Vamsi Harish

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Hibernate computer with a timeout from command line on Windows 7

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