What does Windows error code 656 (ERROR_HIBERNATION_FAILURE) mean?

 
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ERROR_VOLSNAP_PREPARE_HIBERNATE ERROR_PWD_TOO_LONG

ERROR_HIBERNATION_FAILURE

What ERROR_HIBERNATION_FAILURE means

Hibernation requires the operating system to save memory state to disk and later restore it consistently with firmware, devices, storage, and the boot environment. A failure anywhere in that chain can prevent transition or resume.

Where it commonly appears

  • System hibernate and hybrid shutdown
  • Resume after firmware or hardware changes
  • Systems with damaged hibernation files
  • Device drivers that fail power transitions

Likely causes

  • Insufficient or unhealthy system-volume storage
  • The hibernation file is corrupt or cannot be written
  • A driver or device refuses a power-state transition
  • Firmware reports inconsistent resume state
  • Encryption, storage, or boot configuration changed between save and resume

Troubleshooting checklist

  1. Review Kernel-Power, storage, and driver events around suspend and resume
  2. Check free space and file-system health on the system volume
  3. Use supported power diagnostics and inspect available sleep states
  4. Update BIOS, firmware, chipset, storage, and device drivers cautiously
  5. Test whether the issue follows a particular peripheral

Guidance for developers

Applications should save state before power transition and must not assume hibernation will succeed. Drivers must implement power callbacks and cancellation correctly. Do not loop hibernation requests after this failure.

Guidance for administrators

Repair system files and storage issues, update problematic platform components, and recreate the hibernation file only through supported system commands. Preserve event logs before disabling hibernation for testing.

Example

A storage filter fails a paging write while Windows saves memory to the hibernation file. The transition aborts with this code. Driver and storage diagnostics are more relevant than changing application settings.

Related conditions

ERROR_HIBERNATED and resume-related success statuses describe completed transitions. This code denotes failure, not merely the fact that the system hibernated.

References


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