3GB switch for Win2K professional

[Rikki]

I have added the new option to the boot.ini file to
increase my application memory from default 2GB to 3GB.
The boot.ini file shown as bellow:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft
Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect /3GB

I can't really see any difference in Windows Task Manager
after the change. Is there any parameter to look for to
make sure that the change has taken place?

I have 2GB installed phisical memory on the system.

best regards,

Rikki

 

[Al Dykes]

I have added the new option to the boot.ini file to
increase my application memory from default 2GB to 3GB.
The boot.ini file shown as bellow:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft
Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect /3GB

I can't really see any difference in Windows Task Manager
after the change. Is there any parameter to look for to
make sure that the change has taken place?

I have 2GB installed phisical memory on the system.

best regards,

Rikki

How much do your apps need ? Adding memory above your use
doesn't buy you much. Task Manager tells you what you need.

As I understand it, you need 3GB of real memory to make use
of the /3GB switch.

 

[Kevin Myers]

I have 3GB of RAM on my system, but had not tried this switch previously
because I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that it was only applicable to
Windows 2000 Server, rather than Windows 2000 Professional. I do use some
*extremely* memory intensive applications (e.g. working with extremely
large, multi-hundred megapixel images). Would using this switch help on my
system, and is there any way that I can verify that it is really working as
desired?

Thanks,
s/KAM

 

[Al Dykes]

I have 3GB of RAM on my system, but had not tried this switch previously
because I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that it was only applicable to
Windows 2000 Server, rather than Windows 2000 Professional. I do use some
*extremely* memory intensive applications (e.g. working with extremely
large, multi-hundred megapixel images). Would using this switch help on my
system, and is there any way that I can verify that it is really working as
desired?

Thanks,
s/KAM

task Manager will tell you a lot;

Ctrl-ALt-Del, pick Task Manager, click on Processses and Performance
tabs.

Perfmon (perfmon.exe) will tell you lots more.

 

[Leonard Severt [MSFT]]

I have added the new option to the boot.ini file to
increase my application memory from default 2GB to 3GB.
The boot.ini file shown as bellow:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft
Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect /3GB

I can't really see any difference in Windows Task Manager
after the change. Is there any parameter to look for to
make sure that the change has taken place?

I have 2GB installed phisical memory on the system.

best regards,

Rikki

When the /3GB switch is used with Windows 2000 Professional or with
Windows 2000 Server, the kernel components are loaded into the memory
space by using the 4 GB RAM Tuning feature in the same way as they load
in Windows 2000 Advanced Server and in Windows 2000 Datacenter Server.
This functionality lets device-driver developers test their drivers in
this configuration without having to install Windows 2000 Advanced
Server or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. The user-mode memory space is
still limited to 2 GB. So applications gain nothing. This is independent
of the amount of memory on the system. You should remove the /3GB
switch.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team

 

[Kevin Myers]

When the /3GB switch is used with Windows 2000 Professional or with
Windows 2000 Server, the kernel components are loaded into the memory
space by using the 4 GB RAM Tuning feature in the same way as they load
in Windows 2000 Advanced Server and in Windows 2000 Datacenter Server.
This functionality lets device-driver developers test their drivers in
this configuration without having to install Windows 2000 Advanced
Server or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. The user-mode memory space is
still limited to 2 GB. So applications gain nothing. This is independent
of the amount of memory on the system. You should remove the /3GB
switch.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team

Thanks very much for that information Leonard. So, there is *no* way at all
for Windows 2000 to use the 3GB of RAM installed on my system, right? Or
can the RAM above 2GB still be used for some purposes by the OS, and for
exactly what if so? Perhaps it can be split between multiple apps where no
single app gets more than the 2GB limit?

Regards,
s/KAM

 

[Leonard Severt [MSFT]]

Thanks very much for that information Leonard. So, there is *no* way
at all for Windows 2000 to use the 3GB of RAM installed on my system,
right? Or can the RAM above 2GB still be used for some purposes by
the OS, and for exactly what if so? Perhaps it can be split between
multiple apps where no single app gets more than the 2GB limit?

Regards,
s/KAM

Yes the memory can be used but not by a single application. Windows 2000
Pro can see and use 4 gig of memory. It will be divided among running
applications and the system. Its just that no single application will
get allocated more than 2 gig of memory. And most application can't use
more than 2 gig anyway.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team