Hibernate is missing in Windows XP

Not only is hibernate hidden from the shutdown/log-off options in Windows XP...

It is also disabled by default!

The procedure to enable hibernate is not difficult, but it took a while to figure out where the configuration settings were hidden.  Hopefully, posting it here will save you some time.

Before you logout out of Windows, a window appears giving you an array of shutdown, standby, hibernate... options. Depending on your configuration, this may be a set of 3 buttons or a dropdown set of options.

If you see a set of 3 buttons, holding shift at the window should display hibernate as an option.

If the hibernate option does not display, go to the section below about Enabling Hibernate.

If you see a window with a dropdown set of options and hibernate is not one of them, go to the section below about Enabling Hibernate.

Enabling Hibernate

1. Go to the Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate tab.
2. Make sure Enable hibernation is checked.
3. Click OK and hibernate should show up as one of your shutdown options.

Repetitively Enabling Hibernate

Maybe you have a lot of systems that require hibernation, or perhaps you'd like to include it in a set of scripts that you run when a system is built from scratch.  You could run this command from the command prompt, or put it in a batch file:

Hope this helps!