Windows 10: Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

How to: Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

How to Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10


Paging is a memory management scheme by which a PC stores and retrieves data from secondary storage for use in main memory. In this scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage in same-size blocks called pages. Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementations in modern operating systems, using secondary storage to let programs exceed the size of available physical memory.

For simplicity, main memory is called "RAM" (abbreviated from "random-access memory") and secondary storage is called "disk" (a shorthand for "hard disk drive"), but the concepts do not depend on whether these terms apply literally to a specific computer system.

Virtual memory is a memory management technique that is implemented using both hardware and software. It maps memory addresses used by a program, called virtual addresses, into physical addresses in computer memory. Main storage as seen by a process or task appears as a contiguous address space or collection of contiguous segments. Windows manages virtual address spaces and the assignment of real memory to virtual memory. Address translation hardware in the CPU, often referred to as a memory management unit or MMU, automatically translates virtual addresses to physical addresses. Software within Windows may extend these capabilities to provide a virtual address space that can exceed the capacity of real memory and thus reference more memory than is physically present in the computer.

The primary benefits of virtual memory include freeing applications from having to manage a shared memory space, increased security due to memory isolation, and being able to conceptually use more memory than might be physically available, using the technique of paging.

Basically, a paging file is an area on the hard disk that Windows uses as if it were RAM in addition to the install RAM.

References:

• Pushing the Limits of Windows: Virtual Memory
• The Pagefile Done Right! | Citrix Blogs
• Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012: The New Swap File

By default, Windows automatically manages the pagefile settings for you, but there may be times you may need to manually manage your pagefile. For example:

• If the C: drive that Windows is installed on is small in size, you may wish to remove the pagefile from that drive, and add a paging file to another drive with more space instead.
• If you use a lot of memory, then you may wish to add a pagefile to another drive to have available if needed.
• If you don't use a lot of memory and your pagefile is large in size, you may wish to use a smaller custom size.
• If you are getting a BSOD PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR or Low Memory type error, you may need to use a larger custom size for the pagefile.

This tutorial will show you how to manage the virtual memory paging file for each drive on your Windows 10 PC.

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to make changes to the pagefile.


EXAMPLE: pagefile.sys on Windows C: drive






Here's How:

1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the System icon.

2. Click/tap on the Advanced system settings link on the left side in System, and close the System window. (see screenshot below)

*note You can also press the Win+R keys to open Run, type SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe, and click/tap on OK to directly open Performance Options at step 4 below.



3. In the Advanced tab, click/tap on the Settings button in the Performance section. (see screenshot below)



4. In the Advanced tab, click/tap on the Change button in the Virtual memory section. (see screenshot below)



5. Do step 6 (custom size), step 7 (remove), step 8 (system managed), or step 9 (all system managed) for how you want to manage the paging file on your drive(s).


6. To Set a Custom Size for Paging File Size on a Drive
A) Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box. (see screenshot below step 6F)

B) Select a drive (ex: C: ) you want to either set a custom size or add a paging file. (see screenshot below step 6F)

C) Select (dot) Custom size. (see screenshot below step 6F)

D) Enter the Initial size (minimal) you want in MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) for the paging file on the selected drive. (see screenshot below step 6F)

E) Enter the Maximum size you want in MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) for the paging file on the selected drive. (see screenshot below step 6F)

F) Click/tap on the Set button. (see screenshot below)



G) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



H) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



I) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

J) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3)

K) Click/tap on Restart Now to restart the computer to apply your changes. (see screenshot below)




7. To Remove (disable) Paging File on a Drive
A) Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box. (see screenshot below step 7D)

B) Select a drive (ex: C: ) you want to remove a paging file from. (see screenshot below step 7D)

C) Select (dot) No paging file. (see screenshot below step 7D)

D) Click/tap on the Set button. (see screenshot below)



E) Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)



F) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



G) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



H) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

I) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3)

J) Click/tap on Restart Now to restart the computer to apply your changes. (see screenshot below)




8. To Set Size of Paging File on a Drive to be System Managed
A) Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box. (see screenshot below step 8D)

B) Select a drive (ex: C: ) you want to have its paging file size system managed. (see screenshot below step 8D)

C) Select (dot) System managed size. (see screenshot below step 8D)

D) Click/tap on the Set button. (see screenshot below)



E) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



F) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

G) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3)

9. To Set Size of Paging File on All Drives to be System Managed
A) Check the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



B) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 4)

C) Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 3)

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile at Shutdown in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Virtual Memory Pagefile Encryption in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable SuperFetch in Windows
• How to Allow or Prevent Users and Groups to Create a Pagefile in Windows 10

:)

 

Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile at Shutdown in Windows 10


Hi,
Nice one Shawn
What's the listing above about is that to help with the new fake shut down features ?

 

Clear Pagefile on Shutdown


I've been looking into clearing the pagefile, and I found the following steps at a somewhat dated webpage:

1. In the registry editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
2. Set ClearPageFileAtShutdown to the REG_DWORD value of 1.
3. Restart Windows.

I'm just wondering whether those steps are still valid, and, if so, does clearing the pagefile work as advertised?

 

increasing of virtual memory

Hi,

You should let Windows handle the Virtual Memory as it will increase or decrease its size on the fly (as needed). Increasing virtual memory "might" allow some programs to run more efficiently (large memory consuming programs such as Photoshop). However setting
the virtual memory too high can significantly slow down your computer.

How to Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

Hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rob Brown -
Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows and Devices for IT : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

 

Physical and Virtual Memory

Agreed. It's usually best to let Windows manage the page file.

*Arrow Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10 | Tutorials

 

Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile at Shutdown in Windows 10

Hey Mike,

Here's more details about that one.

*Arrow Add or Remove Power Menu Icon on Sign-in Screen in Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials