How to change the size of virtual memory

Question

I have no Idea why this happens, it has happened to me several times. Here goes. The last time I restarted my computer it paused on the login screen. when I clicked on my login, it told me it was loading my personal settings yada yada. It never did load. It just sat at that screen, doing nothing. I eventually found that if I hit ctrl/alt/delet it would go on to the desktop. I also realized, and this is the real bugger, that my paging file was set to zero. These things have happened in conjunction a few times now. Every time, i eventually got fed up and re-installed windows. I tried to go in through the control panel to set the pagefile back to like 3000 megs, but it never actually changed. I did it, restarted the computer, then checked again, and there it was sitting at zero again. I have done some searching around the net, and found only one instance of that problem occuring with someone else, but it was a paysite, and I figured I'd ask you instead of paying for it. If you could help me, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you in advace Data Doctors.

Sincerely,

Tom

Answer

This question was answered on April 13, 2005. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

How to change the size of the virtual memory paging file

You must be logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure. 1. Click Start, click Run, and then type sysdm.cpl in the Open box.

2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Settings under Performance.

3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Change under Virtual memory.

4. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file that you want to change.

5. Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, type a new paging file size in megabytes (MB) in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.

Notes:

For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use much memory.

Author

Posted by Ronald of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on April 13, 2005