Hibernate missing from power menu and when I press laptop power button

Solution 1:

Unfortunately, hibernation has been disabled by default in Ubuntu 12.04, because it wasn't working correctly on many systems.

If you are not sure if hibernation works with your hardware, you can test it by sending the hibernate command from your Terminal

sudo pm-hibernate

Here's how to enable it anyway: (warning: only for advanced users — might not work)

In the Terminal, type:

sudo gedit /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/10-vendor.d/com.ubuntu.desktop.pkla

Enter your password when requested.

Search for the section

[Disable hibernate by default]
Identity=unix-user:*
Action=org.freedesktop.upower.hibernate
ResultActive=no

and replace it with

[Re-enable hibernate]
Identity=unix-user:*
Action=org.freedesktop.upower.hibernate
ResultActive=yes

After the next restart, the option "Hibernate" will be back in the 'power menu' at the top right of your screen. If your hardware supports hibernation, it'll work now.

Note: In case you want to disable hibernation again, just revert the changes made above.

Solution 2:

Hibernation is disabled by default in Ubuntu 12.04. A rationale of this decision can be found in this bug report.

See this question to reenable it:

• How to enable hibernation?