Hibernation is enabled by default on Windows. When entering hibernation as a result of a period of inactivity, Windows writes the contents of memory to disk and powers off the system. . The contents of memory are not maintained as power is turned off like it is with simple sleep. Powering on the system will go through a reboot, and Windows detects it has been hibernated - restoring the contents of memory.
In a VM, Fusion has no idea that the power off is from hibernation or the user telling Windows to shut down. On a physical PC, you would most likely have to power on the PC as well when hibernation has occurred
What Broadcom hasn't addressed, though, is when the Mac host enters sleep. That continues to cause running VMs to have issues when the Mac resumes from sleep.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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Original Message:
Sent: May 07, 2025 05:59 AM
From: Vishal Govekar
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
So it seems that Broadcom didn't actually resolve the issue of the computer failing to resume from hibernation and rebooting instead. They simply had you disable hibernation as a workaround?
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 28, 2024 07:07 AM
From: Yoda Mann
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
Changing hibernation to "Never" seems to have done the trick.
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 27, 2024 04:59 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
I just ran an experiment - and it seems to indicate to me that your hibernation settings are the cause of the automatic power off. By default, hibernation is enabled on Windows. Your setting has the system hibernating after 2 hours. Hibernation will write the contents of memory to disk and then power off the system in order to conserve power. I was able to verify that the system was hibernating by opening a couple of applications and letting the VM hibernate automatically. The VM powered off. After powering on the VM and logging back in, the VM still had the applications open that I'd opened prior to the hibernation.
If you don't want the VM to hibernate by itself, you can either set the hibernation time higher, or disable hibernation completely by issueing the following command in a elevated Windows command prompt:
powercfg /h off
Note that turning off hibernation in the VM means that the VM will continue to operate when a portable Mac is running on battery -- which could drain the battery (remember, power status isn't sent to the Windows 11 ARM VM). If running on battery, you might want to consider either suspending the VM with Fusion before either closing the lid or walking away from the laptop overnight in order to prevent the VM from depleting your battery.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 27, 2024 01:23 PM
From: Yoda Mann
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
TG: Thanks again for your continued support. Screen off= 1 hour. Device hibernate = 2 hours. Maybe that's it. When I woke to this screen, I thought it had shut down entirely. Is that not the case? Is it only hibernating? Please forgive me, but I'm Mac guy with only 3 apps I need in Windows.
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 27, 2024 11:08 AM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
Did the VM shut down, or did it suspend?
Can you double check System > Power > Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts in the Settings app in the VM. In particular, is the "Make my device hibernate after" setting set?
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- Paul (technogeezer)
Original Message:
Sent: Dec 27, 2024 10:06 AM
From: Yoda Mann
Subject: Windows 11 Shutting down on its own
Anyone else have their Windows 11 Pro shut down on its own when left up and running for some time? Second time it's happened to me. Left Windows up overnight, woke up Mac computer and Windows shut down, although VMWare app was running.
MacBook Pro
16-inch, Nov 2023
Apple M3 Max
128 GB
15.2 (24C101)
Latest version of VMWare and Windows 11.