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Page File Problems-W2K

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by dolsen

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I am getting an error when booting (between my logon and when the desktop pops up) stating that my page file is missing or too small. I have one of your previous papers telling to fix by booting to Recovery Console. Where do I look to find out if I already have it installed? What do I look for/what steps to I take if I have to boot from W2K CD?

Then it states to use the COPY command (from RC) to copy any other file over pagefile.sys. How do I find out where the pagefile.sys is if it is a hidden file?

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

10 replies

by skitzizzy

Hi,

You don't need to restore anything.

To modify the size of the pagefile, right click My Computer and select Properties --> Advanced --> Performance options and open the Virtual Memory dialogue. You can set the pagefile size in there.

I have heard many recommendations regarding pagefile sizes:-

1. Make the pagefile RAM + 12Mb (the old NT way).

2. Make the pagefile RAM * 2

3. Make the pagefile RAM * 2 and set it static

I usually set pagefiles as RAM minimum and x2 maximum (ie if I have 128MB RAM I set it to between 128 and 256). I've had minimal problems using this setting.

Also, if your PC has logical drives and runs applications off them (say D: or E:) it helps to add some pagefile on those drives too.

Make sure you :-

a) Have the amount of space required to use the MAXIMUM pagefile set and

b)reboot the PC after making the change to have the system resize the pagefile.

You can also modify the pagefile through the Win2k registry.

Hope this helps,

Andy

by dolsen

Andy,
I have tried resetting it several times thru My Computer but when I reboot, it keeps giving the same original message and creating it's own 20MB pagefile. Not quite enough. I have also tried putting zero's in the min and max boxes, defragging (so it would put the pagefile at the end of the clean drive) and rebooting. I still get the same thing. I have on 1 drive, no partitions, 18.2GB WU3 SCSI.

How would I modify it thru W2K Registry? Do you possibly need more info?

Thanks,

by rcom

To determine the size of the pagefile multiply the amount of physical RAM by 1.5 to a maximum of 4095MB. Make sure you have the drive space. Placing the pagefile on the boot partition does not optimize performance because Windows has to perform diskI/O on both the system directory and the pagefile.

Completely removing the pagefile from the boot partition does not allow a crash dump file (Memory.dmp)

Create one pagefile on the boot partition using the default settings and create one pagefile on another less frequently used partition. Most of the time Windows will use the less busy partition for virtual memory.

by dolsen

I apologize, but I'm pretty new to this Q&A thing. Where should I find the referenced article?
Thanks,

by dolsen

For the person who suggested the KB article (answer #3): Thank you, thank you, thank you. I accidentally found the article and it was the exact answer. Worked like a dream! I will change your status when I can figure out how to. Thanks again!
D. Olsen

by hootie14

Hi, to find the KB article Q140472
1.open your web browser and go to www.microsoft.com
2.In the left side pane uner "Information for" select "IT Professionals (TechNet)
3.Select "Troubleshooting and Support"
4.In the right side pane select "Search the Knowledge Base(KB)
5.In the right side pane in the "Search the Knowledge Base" dialog box, in the Search for box type: Q140472

by dolsen

Hootie,
I hope you saw my comments on 7/31/02 above. Thanks again for your help!

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