Maximum number of open windows?

[Guest]

I heard somewhere that Win XP has a max of 17 or 19 open windows. Is this
true? Can it be changed through settings?

I keep running out of browser windows. Sometimes, if I have two or three
apps running (like Notes, Outlook and Dreamweaver), I can only open 4 or 5
brower windows in IE. After that, there is no right click menu any more, or
nothing happens when you click "open in a new window".

The PC is a 3.5 GHz P4 with 1GB of ram, so that should not be a limitation.
I am running Windows XP Professional SP2 in a corporate network with machine
admin rights.

Can anyone throw any light on this limitation?

Tony

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I heard somewhere that Win XP has a max of 17 or 19 open windows. Is
this true?

No.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I heard somewhere that Win XP has a max of 17 or 19 open windows.
Is this true? Can it be changed through settings?
No.

I keep running out of browser windows. Sometimes, if I have two or
three apps running (like Notes, Outlook and Dreamweaver), I can
only open 4 or 5 brower windows in IE. After that, there is no
right click menu any more, or nothing happens when you click "open
in a new window".

The PC is a 3.5 GHz P4 with 1GB of ram, so that should not be a
limitation. I am running Windows XP Professional SP2 in a corporate
network with machine admin rights.

Sounds like other problems - I would recommend a thorough maintenance on the
machine.. Update drivers, software patches, check for adware/spyware with
several apps, check for viruses with an online AV software, CHKDSK,
uninstall unused applications, turn off unused services and defragment.

Can anyone throw any light on this limitation?

There is no limitation like that. If you are experiencing an issue like
this (although you really shouldn't that often.. 17-19 open Windows and you
probably are not even referring to 5 or more at that point anymore. heh) -
you need to look into possible other issues the machine may have or the
applications you are using. You might be running software (like some
anti-everything suite that uses up too many resources, or some bloated
software that eats up half your ram, etc.)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I don't have a lot of control over antivirus
and other security software as I am inside a government agency network with a
standard operating environment. Patches are also centrally controlled.

As for the windows that are open, I am a web developer and team manager, so
I typically have Outlook (1 window), Lotus Notes (1 window), Dreamweaver (1
window), Windows Explorer (1 or 2 windows), Internet Explorer (1 to view WIP,
several for researching) and Firefox (1 to view WIP). So that's about 10 if I
am not too busy. But yes, sometimes I get lazy or have to flick between many
tasks and it can be a lot higher.

I will refer it to our tech support and hope they don't reimage my hard
disk. That's what they do to users with local admin privileges when they
complain...

Tony

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

I heard somewhere that Win XP has a max of 17 or 19 open windows. Is
this true? Can it be changed through settings?

I keep running out of browser windows. Sometimes, if I have two or three
apps running (like Notes, Outlook and Dreamweaver), I can only open 4 or
5 brower windows in IE. After that, there is no right click menu any
more, or nothing happens when you click "open in a new window".

The PC is a 3.5 GHz P4 with 1GB of ram, so that should not be a
limitation. I am running Windows XP Professional SP2 in a corporate
network with machine admin rights.

Can anyone throw any light on this limitation?

Tony

I'm not aware of any such limitations.

You may wish to look at Avant or Maxthon (or wait for IE7) which will give you multiple IE windows with tabs.
I've been using Avant for a few years and love it. <http://www.avantbrowser.com/>

 

[FuzzyGuru]

I have experienced the exact same issue on a number of computers. At
work, I have 2-3 Visual Studio's, Outlook, Opera, Remote Desktops, SQL
EntMan, and MSN messenger and I can only have 6-7 IE's open before I
start loosing my menu and such.

Earlier in the year, I had the exact same problem on my home PC, and I
was able to correct it by changing a registry key.. however I cannot
remember which one it was and google is not helping... (when I did find
it, it was on around the 12th page of the search)

It is not a spyware, viral or driver issue. My work PC was freshly
installed on a Friday, turned off and on the Monday I turned it on and
it was experiencing the issue immediately. I have tried to do registry
compares between both machines, but nothing has jumped out.

If I could install IE7 at work, I would, but I need IE6 to ensure as
that is the required browser for the product we develop.

 

[FuzzyGuru]

I found it just now, I have been searching for 5 weeks now... not long
after my last post...

http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23088&cid=2492011

From the /. posting...

To tweak the limit, take a look in the registry at
HLKM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/SubSystems -
there is a key called "Windows" that contains (among other things)
"SharedSection=1024,3072". Changing the SharedSection entry to
"1024,3072,512" increases the size of the "hidden" desktop heap. If
that doesn't work, try increasing the second of the comma delimited
values (e.g. 3072 -> 4096), which is the size limit of any particular
desktop heap

 

[Guest]

That's sort of what I had heard. The value in my XP registry at home is:

%SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows
SharedSection=1024,3072,512 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows
ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3
ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ProfileControl=Off
MaxRequestThreads=16

I have to wait until Monday to see what the work PC looks like. I am
wondering what the MaxRequestThreads value is about.

Tony

 

[FuzzyGuru]

TonyG,

Here is the registries on my systems:

PC at work prior to fixing (the fresh install):
%SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows
SharedSection=1024,3072,512 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows
ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3
ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ProfileControl=Off
MaxRequestThreads=16

PC at home (with fix) and work PC now:
%SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows
SharedSection=1024,4096,512 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows
ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3
ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ProfileControl=Off
MaxRequestThreads=16

Luckily I have a VPN to work so I was able to Remote Desktop in and
make the change and test it. Increasing the heap to 4096 has fixed the
issue at work.. I am finally able to have some more productivity. It
will be great to actually be able to test the software without having
everything die on you.

I am not sure if changing the MaxRequestThreads would help..

That's sort of what I had heard. The value in my XP registry at home is:

%SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows
SharedSection=1024,3072,512 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows
ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3
ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ProfileControl=Off
MaxRequestThreads=16

I have to wait until Monday to see what the work PC looks like. I am
wondering what the MaxRequestThreads value is about.

Tony