How to enable hibernation?

If this answer does not work in Ubuntu 13.10, see here for an alternative answer

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Hibernation was disabled on 12.04 for machines that are not certified with Ubuntu.

In order to enable hibernation you need to test whether it works correctly by running sudo pm-hibernate in a terminal. The system will try to hibernate. If you are able to start the system again then you are more or less safe to add an override.

To do so, start editing:

sudo nano /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/com.ubuntu.enable-hibernate.pkla

Fill it with this:

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

Or in 14.04 and later:

[Re-enable hibernate by default for login1]
  Identity=unix-user:*
  Action=org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate
  ResultActive=yes

[Re-enable hibernate for multiple users by default in logind]
  Identity=unix-user:*
  Action=org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions
  ResultActive=yes

Save by pressing Ctrl-O then enter and then exit nano by pressing Ctrl-X.

Restart and hibernation is back!

Or run killall unity-panel-service to just reset the menu.

Some users will then need to run sudo update-grub to get the hibernate option to be available in the power menu. Some users may also have to at least log out then log in to get it to appear in the (upper right) power menu.

First you need to test your machine supports hibernation. Test it with the command:

 sudo pm-hibernate
 # or for newer Ubuntus like 17.04
 sudo systemctl hibernate

Ubuntu 16.04 and above

For enabling in the interface you'll need to run sudo nano /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/com.ubuntu.enable-hibernate.pkla and fill with:

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

[Re-enable hibernate by default in logind]
Identity=unix-user:*
Action=org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions
ResultActive=yes

Ubuntu 14.04 and 15.04

For enabling in the interface you'll need to run sudo nano /etc/polkit-1/localauthority.conf.d/52-enable-hibernation.conf for Ubuntu 14.04 and 15.04 and fill with:

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

[Re-enable hibernate by default for login1]
  Identity=unix-user:*
  Action=org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions
  ResultActive=yes

It has several stanzas as you might have multiple users (so that is doesn´t depend of multiple-users or upower as manager instead of login1)

p.s.: official documentation https://help.ubuntu.com/16.04/ubuntu-help/power-hibernate.html

Additionally, for those who want to disable the suspend button (for various reasons), proceed analogously...

Choose any file name, but this is one is verbose/convention:

sudoedit /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/com.ubuntu.disable-suspend.pkla

Fill it with this:

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

Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X

No need to restart, it should be gone as soon as you go into the shutdown menu.