Massive pagefile.sys file

[Sitara Lal]

I am working on a WinXP (Home) PC and suddenly found my C: drive to be
almost full. On further investigation, it appears that I have a massive
pagefile.sys (almost 2GB) file, which I had not seen before.

Looking at the Registry, I found that the value for
'ClearPageFileAtShutdown' was set to zero; so I went and changed it to '1'
and rebooted the computer several times. However, the pagefile.sys file
remains unchanged (i.e. does not disappear or shrink).

What is the best way to deal with this cancer?

 

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hello,

You might want to do some reading on how virtual memory is handled in Windows XP:

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

--

Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org


Folder customizations
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Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

How much memory does your computer have? The size of the pagefile, by default, is directly related to the amount of the RAM in your system. Deleting the pagefile at shutdown is a security measure. It is automatically recreated when you boot the computer. The only way to get rid of it, completely is to tell Windows not to use it, but to store everything in RAM, which will likely impact your system performance.

 

[JS]

How much memory does your PC have, your pagefile get larger with the more
memory you have installed.

You can manually change the size of the pagefile by doing the following:
Start/Control Panel/double click on the System Icon, then select the
Advanced tab, click on the Performance setting button,
next select the Advanced tab on the Performance options Window, at the
bottom of the Advanced tab you will see an option to Change Virtual Memory.
This is where you can specify the amount and location of the pagefile.

Or per the MS Knowledge base 308417 (listed below) the quick way to
accomplish changing the pagefile:
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.

If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum paging file
settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those
changes. When you increase the paging file size, you typically do not have
to restart your computer.

Also see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223/en-us
and: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/

JS

 

[Guest]

Windows automatically sets your pagefile to 1.5 times the size of your
installed RAM.

Seems like it's time to get a larger hard drive.

MD