The nightmare scenario caused by the Windows 8 through Windows 10 fast startup option and what to do about it

I have just had to endure one of the most miserable "repair jobs" of my career of 60 years.  There was this laptop with Windows 10.  The power was interrupted when the computer was shutting down AND it was ready to do the restart after a partial install of an update.  The symptoms of the resulting problem were that the computer would not boot.  It would get to the blue window screen just at the start of boot and just spin and spin.  Night and day.  I won't go into all the details on my effort to recover from this problem.  You can read about some of what I did by searching on "deleting the hiberfil.sys and "Windows fast start up."  I used all my skill with a Ubuntu live disk as well as various Windows recovery options and a Windows recovery disk.  I was able to get read and write the hard drive by using a combination of applications in Ubuntu, but that only got the drive to the point where I could get Windows to go into its own recovery mode without relying on the recovery DVDs.

Oh, there were no recovery points.

I spent over an hour on the phone with Microsoft update tech support.  I knew more than they did and their final conclusion was that I would have to use the "reinstall Windows 10 keeping the user data" option.

That worked.  Of course, I have to reinstall all the user applications.  In this case, one of the applications is not easy to install because it is an older app.

The lesson is:  The Windows fast startup option is a death trap!  I recommend enduring the longer start up times that result from not using fast startup, where the system creates a hiberfil.sys you don't know about and that locks up the computer if the computer shuts down at the "wrong time."

Instructions:   Turn off fast startup:

1. Search for and open “Power options” in the Start Menu.
2. Click “Choose what the power buttons do” on the left side of the window.
3. Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable.”
4. Under “Shutdown settings” make sure “Turn on fast startup” is disabled. (no checkmark).

As an extra precaution, start an administrator cmd or powershell session and run "powercfg -h off.  That turns off the system's inclination to create a hiberfil.sys.