Pagefile.sys corrupted

[Art Farmer]

I am having serious problems with the size of my Pagefile.sys.

It remains doggedly at 1.5gb no matter what I do. Rightly or wrongly the
size of my C: drive is 4.19 gb so this file is causing difficulties with
lack of space.

I have changed the parameters in Virtual memory, including 'no page file',
'system managed file' 'moving it to a different drive' etc. None of these
has any effect.

I have also tried different settings in Regedit.

I cannot delete it in XP and as it is on an NTFS drive I have not found a
way to delete it outside WinXP.

When I look at the file with a Hex editor it seems to be 'empty' ie not data
appears.

I received some stick lately for asking for help in another newsgroup so I
have done my best to solve the problem myself but I am getting nowhere.

TIA

Art

 

[Gordon]

I am having serious problems with the size of my Pagefile.sys.

It remains doggedly at 1.5gb no matter what I do. Rightly or wrongly the
size of my C: drive is 4.19 gb so this file is causing difficulties with
lack of space.

I have changed the parameters in Virtual memory, including 'no page file',
'system managed file' 'moving it to a different drive' etc. None of these
has any effect.

I have also tried different settings in Regedit.

I cannot delete it in XP and as it is on an NTFS drive I have not found a
way to delete it outside WinXP.

When I look at the file with a Hex editor it seems to be 'empty' ie not data
appears.

I received some stick lately for asking for help in another newsgroup so I
have done my best to solve the problem myself but I am getting nowhere.

TIA

Art

You are trying this logged on as an Administrator, aren't you?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Have a look at the following article by MVP Alex Nichol:

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

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| I am having serious problems with the size of my Pagefile.sys.
|
| It remains doggedly at 1.5gb no matter what I do. Rightly or wrongly the
| size of my C: drive is 4.19 gb so this file is causing difficulties with
| lack of space.
|
| I have changed the parameters in Virtual memory, including 'no page file',
| 'system managed file' 'moving it to a different drive' etc. None of these
| has any effect.
|
| I have also tried different settings in Regedit.
|
| I cannot delete it in XP and as it is on an NTFS drive I have not found a
| way to delete it outside WinXP.
|
| When I look at the file with a Hex editor it seems to be 'empty' ie not
data
| appears.
|
| I received some stick lately for asking for help in another newsgroup so I
| have done my best to solve the problem myself but I am getting nowhere.
|
| TIA
|
| Art
|
|
|

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Boot with the Windows XP CD to Recovery Console and delete \pagefile.sys could help,
if it has become corrupted.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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

"Art Farmer" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message:

| I am having serious problems with the size of my Pagefile.sys.
|
| It remains doggedly at 1.5gb no matter what I do. Rightly or wrongly the
| size of my C: drive is 4.19 gb so this file is causing difficulties with
| lack of space.
|
| I have changed the parameters in Virtual memory, including 'no page file',
| 'system managed file' 'moving it to a different drive' etc. None of these
| has any effect.
|
| I have also tried different settings in Regedit.
|
| I cannot delete it in XP and as it is on an NTFS drive I have not found a
| way to delete it outside WinXP.
|
| When I look at the file with a Hex editor it seems to be 'empty' ie not data
| appears.
|
| I received some stick lately for asking for help in another newsgroup so I
| have done my best to solve the problem myself but I am getting nowhere.
|
| TIA
|
| Art

 

[Art Farmer]

No. as far as I know I have not set any rights or log-on passwords.

I think I have it set to any user.

Art

 

[Art Farmer]

I have done that and followed all the instructions to the best of my
ability.

Nothing seems to change it.

Art

 

[Art Farmer]

I will try this, thanks

Art

 

[*Vanguard*]

Art Farmer said in news:hKMsc.313$3s5.119@newsfe4-win:

No. as far as I know I have not set any rights or log-on passwords.

I think I have it set to any user.

Art

So, what are you running, Windows XP *Home* or *Pro*? If Pro, you need
to be logged in under an admin-level account. In Home, you need to
reboot to Safe mode and login as Administrator.

One way of deleting the pagefile is to reboot into Recovery Console mode
(see Start -> Help for instructions on how to install it from the
installation CD). You can then delete the pagefile.sys file. However,
you won't see it and, I believe, the 'attrib' command might not work on
it to eliminate the system and hidden file attributes or you are
restricted from it somehow. So Microsoft's trick is to copy a normal
file, like autoexec.bat, atop the pagefile.sys file, like running "copy
autoexec.bat pagefile.sys" and then you can see and delete the
pagefile.sys. When you reboot into normal mode, the pagefile will get
rebuilt. Go read:

How to Delete the Pagefile.sys File in Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=255205

However, before deleting the pagefile, configure virtual memory to set
the min and max size the same (this reduces fragmentation) on the same
drive as wherever Windows is installed. Set it to the same size of your
memory plus 64KB. You need to have a pagefile there but minimize it.
From your description where you mention moving the pagefile to another
drive (you really don't move but instead just define another segment
there), it sounds like you have a second drive. Windows will use the
pagefile on the 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th, or other drive) first to minimize
thrashing when reading the files on the drive where it runs. On the
second drive, configure the pagefile to be 1.5 to 2.0 times the size of
your physical memory. Don't bother doing this if the 2nd "drive" is
really just another partition on the same physical disk as where your
Windows partition exists. The point is to move the reads/writes for the
pagefile to a different IDE controller and drive than for the
reads/writes used to load and run the operating system. After you setup
the min=max settings for virtual memory (on both drives), set its size
on C: to RAM+64KB, and set its size on D: to, say, RAM x 2 then reboot,
use Recovery Console, and delete the pagefiles on both C: and D: as
noted above. You will need to login as Administrator when you boot into
Recovery Console mode.

 

[Art Farmer]

Art Farmer said in news:hKMsc.313$3s5.119@newsfe4-win:

So, what are you running, Windows XP *Home* or *Pro*? If Pro, you need
to be logged in under an admin-level account. In Home, you need to
reboot to Safe mode and login as Administrator.

One way of deleting the pagefile is to reboot into Recovery Console mode
(see Start -> Help for instructions on how to install it from the
installation CD). You can then delete the pagefile.sys file. However,
you won't see it and, I believe, the 'attrib' command might not work on
it to eliminate the system and hidden file attributes or you are
restricted from it somehow. So Microsoft's trick is to copy a normal
file, like autoexec.bat, atop the pagefile.sys file, like running "copy
autoexec.bat pagefile.sys" and then you can see and delete the
pagefile.sys. When you reboot into normal mode, the pagefile will get
rebuilt. Go read:

How to Delete the Pagefile.sys File in Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=255205

However, before deleting the pagefile, configure virtual memory to set
the min and max size the same (this reduces fragmentation) on the same
drive as wherever Windows is installed. Set it to the same size of your
memory plus 64KB. You need to have a pagefile there but minimize it.
From your description where you mention moving the pagefile to another
drive (you really don't move but instead just define another segment
there), it sounds like you have a second drive. Windows will use the
pagefile on the 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th, or other drive) first to minimize
thrashing when reading the files on the drive where it runs. On the
second drive, configure the pagefile to be 1.5 to 2.0 times the size of
your physical memory. Don't bother doing this if the 2nd "drive" is
really just another partition on the same physical disk as where your
Windows partition exists. The point is to move the reads/writes for the
pagefile to a different IDE controller and drive than for the
reads/writes used to load and run the operating system. After you setup
the min=max settings for virtual memory (on both drives), set its size
on C: to RAM+64KB, and set its size on D: to, say, RAM x 2 then reboot,
use Recovery Console, and delete the pagefiles on both C: and D: as
noted above. You will need to login as Administrator when you boot into
Recovery Console mode.

Vanguard

Thanks very much for your advice, it gets me a little nearer to solving my
problem.

If you can spare the time I will try to explain my predicament.

I am using WinXP Pro, with no administration settings. My RAM size is 2 x
512mb. When installing WinXP, following someone's (unknown, I wish I could
meet him now) advice I created a 4.12gb C:\ partition on a 80gb drive as it
was suggested this would speed up things. As you can imagine overtime this
C:\ partition gets fuller and fuller. Where possible I have moved
files/programs to other partitions.

I followed your advice plus the link to MS fiddled around adding Boot.ini to
the Pagefile.sys and was able to delete it.

I then found that any attempt to opt for a custom size paging file, a system
set paging file or a paging file on another drive (not on the same IDE
connection) simply resulted in the swapfile going onto C:\ with the size of
1.5gb.

The only way to not have it on the C drive is to select 'no paging file'.

Any suggestions you might have would be gratefully received. Is it possible
that I have a Trojan lurking. ?? I use Zonealarm, and I have EZ antivirus
software which shows no problems.

I don't want to carry out a complete new install. Does using Partition Magic
create genuine new partition sizes or does it work in the background using
pseudo partitions.

Sorry for the lengthy reply, I hope the details explain my problem.

Many thanks

Art

 

[Chris Chandler]

I don't want to carry out a complete new install. Does using Partition
Magic create genuine new partition sizes or does it work in the
background using pseudo partitions.

Partition Magic is a great and safe non-destructive way to manipulate your
hard drive size with no loss of data. I use it all the time at work and at
home.

 

[Art Farmer]

Partition Magic is a great and safe non-destructive way to manipulate your
hard drive size with no loss of data. I use it all the time at work and at
home.

Chris

Are there any problems using PM on NTFS drives ??

 

[Ricky]

|
| | > | >
| > >
| > > I don't want to carry out a complete new install. Does using
Partition
| > > Magic create genuine new partition sizes or does it work in the
| > > background using pseudo partitions.
| >
| > Partition Magic is a great and safe non-destructive way to
manipulate your
| > hard drive size with no loss of data. I use it all the time at
work and at
| > home.
|
| Chris
|
| Are there any problems using PM on NTFS drives ??
|
|
|

Mine is formatted as NTFS and I have had no problem using Partition
Magic.

 

[*Vanguard*]

Art Farmer said in news:[email protected]:

Chris

Are there any problems using PM on NTFS drives ??

I believe you must have version 6, or later, of PartitionMagic to
support NTFS partitions. The current version is 8 so that's what you'll
end up getting when you buy it new.

I use PartitionMagic but I would never resize, move, or perform other
operation on my partitions without first backing up all my data.
Actually I use DriveImage, too, and it lets me restore the partition
(and the partition size can be different than before).

 

[*Vanguard*]

Art Farmer said in news:CU2tc.59$YT4.16@newsfe5-win:

I am using WinXP Pro, with no administration settings. ...

What do you mean by "no administration settings"? There is always an
Administrator account. Although it can be renamed, it always exists and
you cannot delete it. You do NOT use the Administrator account to login
for normal use. That account is for recovery in case your other
admin-level account goes bad, like its profile getting corrupted which
prevents you from logging on under it. You create another admin-level
account and that is the one you use for admin duties. You define a 3rd
account which is a non-admin account and that's the one you use for
normal use (this is only a recommendation for the typical user; my
personal account is also an admin-level account).

I then found that any attempt to opt for a custom size paging file, a
system set paging file or a paging file on another drive (not on the
same IDE connection) simply resulted in the swapfile going onto C:\
with the size of
1.5gb.

Still sounds like you are logging in under a non-admin account. Is the
account you login under included in the Administrators group? Use the
User Accounts applet in Control Panel to find out, or run "control
userpasswords2" if you need a better applet for account information.

The only way to not have it on the C drive is to select 'no paging
file'.

Or maybe you aren't doing it right. Highlight the C: drive in the list.
Set the min and max value (to the same value). Then click the Set
button. This is important. You MUST click the Set button. Setting
values on other drives and clicking OK does *not* keep the values that
you configured - unless you first Set them to actually implement them.
If you have only 1 physical hard disk, only define a pagefile on C: (or
whatever is the Windows partition). If you have more than one physical
hard disk, you can define another pagefile in one partition on those
other hard disks. Don't define pagefiles in more than one partition on
a hard disk. The point is to separate the read/writes to each *drive*,
not to each partition on the same drive.

So you would:
1. Select a drive.
2. Set min pagefile size.
3. Set max pagefile size (the same as min).
4. Click the Set button. VERY important.
5. For additional *physical* drives, repeat steps 1-4.