How to Completely Disable ‘Fast Startup’ in Windows 11 (Fix Dual Boot/Driver Issues)

When you click “Shut down” in Windows 11, your computer does not actually turn off completely. By default, Microsoft uses a feature called “Fast Startup.” Instead of fully closing the operating system, Windows terminates your applications but saves the core Windows kernel and drivers into a hibernation file on your hard drive. When you turn the PC back on, it simply loads that hibernation file into RAM, resulting in incredibly fast boot times.

However, this feature causes massive headaches for power users. Because the PC never truly shuts down, motherboard firmware updates might fail to install, dual-boot Linux configurations might be locked out of mounting the Windows drive, and buggy hardware drivers never get properly reset, leading to persistent blue screens. If you want a “Shut down” to actually mean shut down, you must disable this feature.

How to Completely Disable Fast Startup in Windows 11

This setting is buried deep within the legacy Control Panel power options.

1. Click the Start button, type Control Panel, and press Enter.
2. In the top right corner of the Control Panel window, ensure “View by” is set to Large icons or Small icons.
3. Click on Power Options.
4. Look at the navigation menu on the left side of the window and click on Choose what the power buttons do.
5. You will see a checkbox labelled “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” near the bottom, but it will be greyed out and unclickable.
6. To unlock it, click the blue shield icon at the top of the window labelled Change settings that are currently unavailable. (Click “Yes” if prompted by UAC).
7. The checkbox is now unlocked. Uncheck the box next to “Turn on fast startup (recommended)”.
8. Click the Save changes button at the absolute bottom of the window.

You can now close the Control Panel. The next time you shut down your Windows 11 PC, it will perform a complete, clean termination of the kernel. While your next boot might take 5 or 10 seconds longer, your system will be significantly more stable, and hardware drivers will properly reset on every launch.