Disabling Paging Executive

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What exactly does disabling paging executive (a registry tweak) do? One of
the most common performance tips on the Internet is the suggestion to disable
the paging executive on computers with more than 512 MB of memory.

I guessing that this tweak tells XP to keep executable files in RAM instead
of sending them to the paging file, even if more recently accessed files must
be sent to the paging file instead. If so, I can see where this tweak
actaully makes sense, at least on machines that already have lots of memory.
 
Please review the following:

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

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Alex Nichol]

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

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

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:

| What exactly does disabling paging executive (a registry tweak) do? One of
| the most common performance tips on the Internet is the suggestion to disable
| the paging executive on computers with more than 512 MB of memory.
|
| I guessing that this tweak tells XP to keep executable files in RAM instead
| of sending them to the paging file, even if more recently accessed files must
| be sent to the paging file instead. If so, I can see where this tweak
| actaully makes sense, at least on machines that already have lots of memory.
|
| --
| Ken
 
Carey Frisch said:
Please review the following:

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php
Click to expand...
[Courtesy of MS-MVP Alex Nichol]
Click to expand...

That article is a classic! I have read it several times. It doesn't
mention anything about the "disabling paging executive" registry entry, but I
gather from re-reading Alex's article that my guess is correct: setting the
value to "1" prevents XP from sending executables code to the page file even
if it is means that more recently accessed code must go there instead.

Ken
 
Ken Gardner said:
Carey Frisch said:
Please review the following:

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php
Click to expand...
[Courtesy of MS-MVP Alex Nichol]
Click to expand...

That article is a classic! I have read it several times. It doesn't
mention anything about the "disabling paging executive" registry entry, but I
gather from re-reading Alex's article that my guess is correct: setting the
value to "1" prevents XP from sending executables code to the page file even
if it is means that more recently accessed code must go there instead.
Click to expand...


I don't think that's the case.

I've run into this problem on this forum before - ask ANY question with the
word "pagefile" in it, and without even reading the question, someone is
bound to point you to Alex's article. It's a great article, but as in this
case, it is not always applicable.

From my understanding, executable code is NEVER sent to the pagefile. Only
application data is sent to the pagefile. So that's not it.

From what little I can gather, this option disables the ability for the OS
to swap out OS code after it is loaded into the protected portion of memory.
Keep in mind that Windows XP operates in two different modes - a normal one,
where applications run, and a "protected" mode, where only the OS and drivers
run. Crashes in "normal" mode are recoverable by the operating system.
Crashes in "protected" mode result in BSOD.

These two different modes operate independently. Pagefile usage is
something that happens in the application domain only. Disabling Executive
Paging affects the way memory is managed in protected mode. They are two
different things. (Remember, "paging" is not the same thing as "pagefile
usage".)

From what I gather, disabling Executive Paging prevents OS code from being
swapped out once it is loaded. This prevents OS code from being swapped in
and out, which can improve perceived performance in certain situations, but
it also increases the likelihood of running out of protected RAM, which will
crash your computer. That's why it should only be disabled if you have at
least 512MB of RAM.
 
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