Windows 2000 Registry

The total amount of space that may be consumed in paged pool and disk space by Registry data (the Hives) is limited by the Registry Size Limit, or RSL. RSL is a kind of "global quota" for Registry space.

By default, RSL is 25 percent of the sizeof paged pool. Setting up the size of paged pool (see PagedPoolSize value of the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management) also affects the size of RSL.

Locate the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.

Modify the value RegistrySizeLimit (create it first it if it does not already exist) to reflect the desired size, in terms of bytes.

RegistrySizeLimit must have a type of REG_DWORD, and a data length of 4 bytes, or it is ignored. If you set the value RegistrySizeLimit to less than 4 megabytes (MB), it is forced up to 4 MB. If you set it to greater than about 80 percent of the size of paged pool, it is set down to 80 percent of the size of paged pool (it is assumed that paged pool is always more than 5 MB). If you set it to 0xffffffff the maximum size allowable (or 80 percent of paged pool, up to 102 MB) is set.

RSL sets a maximum, not an allocation (unlike some other such limits in the system). Setting a large RSL will NOT cause the system to use that much space unless it is actually needed by the Registry. It also does NOT guarantee that that much space will be available for use in the Registry.