No Paging File - KB315270 does not help

[Guest]

When I boot I receive the message "Your system has no paging file, or the
paging file is too small" and Windows creates a temporary paging file.
Sometimes the message is not visible during bootup and I must press
Ctrl-Alt-Del in order to complete the process.

I have tried the recommendations in KB315270 with no success. I have granted
full access to all accounts (Administrators, two personal accounts, no
Guest). I have been to http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php but could find no
help there.

System:
Toshiba Laptop w/ 256MB RAM
Windows XP SP2 w/all hotfixes
HDD 28GB w/8 GB free (largest contiguous space: 2.8 GB)
Two accounts, both admistrators, Guest is off
All accounts have been given full access

I am at my wits end and do not know where else to turn. I hope that someone
here can help me with this problem. Thanks in advance.

Fraser

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi

Is Windows set to manage virtual memory, and is there sufficient free
disk space available on the Windows partition?

 

[Guest]

I have tried various sizes of user-managed paging files as well as
system-managed. There is currently about 8GB of free space on the only HDD in
the laptop. The largest contiguous free space is 2.8GB. It is all partitioned
as C: (total size is 28MB).

Nothing has worked (either system or user-managed). I make the change,
reboot and still no paging file.

Thanks for your quick response.

Cheers,
Fraser

 

[Mak]

Fraser, can you review your steps in KB315270 again, particularly steps 5
and 7 (System). Paging file is locked by Session Manager, not Administrator,
it is very important that you set correct permission to the root of the
drive for System account.

also, can you run:
reg query "hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\session manager\memory
management" > "%userprofile%\desktop\mem.txt"

and this:
dir %systemdrive%\p*.sys /a /q >> "%userprofile%\desktop\mem.txt"

and post result here. (Watch out for spaces as the above lines will probably
get wrapped)

 

[Guest]

Retried KB315270. Rebooted in Safe Mode. Logged on as Administrator. Received
paging file error message. Performed all steps particularly #5 and#7
(Administrators and system both existed prior but added as per instructions).
Gave full control to ALL user groups:

Administrators(FRASER01\Administrators)
Everyone
SYSTEM
Users(FRASER01\Users)

System properties indicated system-managed paging file but none existed.
Accepted changes, exited, rebooted. Still paging file error.

Ran queries ...
reg query "hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\session manager\memory
management" > "%userprofile%\desktop\mem.txt"

dir %systemdrive%\p*.sys /a /q >> "%userprofile%\desktop\mem.txt"

- - - Contents of Mem.txt - - -

! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\currentcontrolset\control\session manager\memory
management
ClearPageFileAtShutdown REG_DWORD 0x1
DisablePagingExecutive REG_DWORD 0x1
LargeSystemCache REG_DWORD 0x0
NonPagedPoolQuota REG_DWORD 0x0
NonPagedPoolSize REG_DWORD 0x0
PagedPoolQuota REG_DWORD 0x0
PagedPoolSize REG_DWORD 0x0
SecondLevelDataCache REG_DWORD 0x0
SystemPages REG_DWORD 0x3f000
PagingFiles REG_MULTI_SZ C:\pagefile.sys 0 0\0\0
PhysicalAddressExtension REG_DWORD 0x0
SessionViewSize REG_DWORD 0x30
SessionPoolSize REG_DWORD 0x4
WriteWatch REG_DWORD 0x1
TempPageFile REG_DWORD 0x1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\currentcontrolset\control\session manager\memory
management\PrefetchParameters
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8845-EE58

Directory of C:\

- - - End of Mem.txt - - -

Note: pagefile.sys does not exist.

I hope this information will help you diagnose the problem. Thank you for
your assistance.

Fraser

 

[Mak]

Try this:
1. run regedit, change value data in both
ClearPageFileAtShutdown REG_DWORD 0x1
DisablePagingExecutive REG_DWORD 0x1

to 0
(first one assumes physical access to your computer, second one affects only
small portion of code in ntoskrnl.exe, both don't make sence). I would not
go and say they are part of your problem, but, your memory management reg
looks otherwise good.

delete PagingFiles (yes, the whole thing) and
TempPageFile
values
close regedit
don't re-boot.
Go to system applet, choose System managed size for paging file, click
_set_. (did I mention click set?)

go back to regedit and verify value PagingFiles recreated: PagingFiles
REG_MULTI_SZ C:\pagefile.sys 0 0

close regedit / re-boot.

If it works, you would need to recreate default permissions on your root,
what you have now is Win2k style.
If it doesn't we could try later redirect paging file to subfolder.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

No luck yet. I tried it when logged into my account (Fraser). Set those 3
values to 0 and deleted the Pagefiles entry. Set the Pagefile to
system-managed (Set - OK - Apply - OK). Confirmed Pagefile was added back to
registry. Re-booted - still no pagefile.

I re-booted to Safe mode, logged in as Administrator, deleted both Pagefile
and TempPageFile Entries, confirmed other 2 values. repeated as above. No
success.

What now? Thanks again for your continued help.

Fraser

 

[Mak]

OK. Let's try to put pagefile into subfolder.

Steps (and warning - please read it) are basically outlined in this KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;237740
Even thou KB is for Win2k, I'd tried it not too long ago on Win2k3 server,
obviously it works.

You won't need 3 subfolders / 3 pagefiles, only 1, data value for your
machine will be c:\pagefile1\pagefile.sys 384 768
Please double check permissions on this subfolder for System account.
When looking at the properties / security (you will need to do it in safe
mode if you have XP Home there) of the folder click Advanced (if you can't
see press Ctrl + Numpad "+" to expand the window, or click 'edit' for system
account), make sure System has Full Control to this folder, subfolders and
files.
You will need to delete TempPageFile again. New pagefile will be become
active only after re-boot.

 

[Guest]

Still no success.

I rebooted to Safe Mode (WinXP Home), logged in as Administrator, edited
Registry per instructions, confirmed Security permissions (I have given ALL
user groups full control to see if that helps). To confirm security
permissions I used Windows Explorer and properties of the C: drive (per
KB315270 instructions) - All user groups (including System) had full control
of the entire drive. Deleted Tempfile registry key. Rebooted normally. No
luck.

This is really starting to frustrate me. I am grateful for your continued
help.

Fraser

 

[Guest]

Some further information.

The registry key PagingFiles has the correct value:
c:\pagefile1\pagefile.sys 384 768


However, the TempPageFile key is back with value 1. The c:\pagefile1\
directory does not exist (I even tried looking while showing protected system
files - no success).

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Fraser

 

[Bert Kinney]

Have you tried deleting pagefile.sys? It could be that it is corrupt.

To do so, turn Virtual memory off. Restart Windows open Windows Explorer
and delete any and all page files. Now turn Virtual memory back on and
let Windows manage it.

 

[Guest]

I cannot find pagefile.sys

I turned VMem off, rebooted to Safe Mode, confirmed no pagefile setting.
Searched with Windows Explorer (showing hidden and system files). Also tried
"dir page*.sys /a /s" from the root directory in a DOS window. No such file
exists.

Rebooted normally, confirmed VMem off, turned VMem on (system-managed),
rebooted, still temp pagefile error.

I am still stuck but thank you for your help.

Fraser

 

[Guest]

Just as a matter of interest, what does Windows name the temporary pagefile?
I have a suspicion that it is not creating one even though the error message
says that it is.

Thanks

Fraser

 

[Mak]

Fraser,

you will need to create pagefile1 folder yourself. It's not important what
the folder name is, as long as it matches what you put in registry (no
spaces tho, AFAIK).
After you create the folder, proseed with the instructions in both MSKB and
mine in my previous post.

Can you tell me something, since you had 2 common "tweaks" that many bad
informed web sites offer in your memory management registry part, do you
happen to change any other parameters of your OS, like stopping services and
such?
Can you please list errors (if any) in your event viewer.

 

[Guest]

Yipee! Success at last. I must have missed the instruction to create the
directory (oops!). Not enough coffee <g>. The directory now exists with a
384MB pagefile.sys in it. No error on bootup.

You are absolutely right about the tweaks. I had turned some Windows
services to manual start but that was in back in April 2005. No problems
until this Monday (Jan 24).

I had run some registry cleaners back in December 2005. Again no problems
until this week.

Event Log Info:
These two warnings seem to occur on every bootup.
Warning:EvntAgnt EventID:1015 TraceLevel parameter not located in registry;
Default trace level used is 32.
Warning:EvntAgnt EventID:1003 TraceFileName parameter not located in
registry; Default trace file used is .

The most common errors appear are generated by DCOM and appear similar to
below. They may be related to my repeated booting into Safe Mode to perform
the required tasks to create the pagefile.
ErrorCOM User:NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM EventID:10005 DCOM got error "This
service cannot be started in Safe Mode " attempting to start the service
EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

The following seems to occur on bootup but is probably related to my having
to log on to the server.
Errorhcp EventID:1002 The IP address lease 192.168.0.3 for the Network
Card with network address 00087405F459 has been denied by the DHCP server
192.168.16.2 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

There were some other errors back on the 19th and prior. I wonder whether
they could be related to the defragger (Raxco PerfectDisk 7.0) that I was
trying out.

At any rate, thank you so much for your help. I am very grateful not to
mention extremely happy now that it appears to be working.

Cheers,
Fraser

 

[Mak]

You are welcome.

You might want to do this now:
1. Apply default XP permissions to the root.

Administrators: Full (This Folder, Subfolders, and Files)
System: Full (This Folder, Subfolders, and Files)
Creator Owner: Full (Subfolders and Files Only)
Users: Read and Execute (This Folder, Subfolders, and Files)
Users: Create Folders / Append Data (This Folder and Subfolders)
Users: Create Files / Write Data (Subfolders Only)
Everyone: Read and Execute (This Folder Only)

2. run chkdsk / F on your systemdrive.
Check if you can now place paging file back to its default position.

3. Review your services start up, put them back to defaults, MS services at
least.
(you really don't need to "tweak" those (SP2), registry cleaners not needed
too)

4. Event errors: http://www.eventid.net
(nothing serious in your case, I would remove SNMP though, if you don't need
it)

Or, you can forget about the above and continue using your computer as it is
now.

 

[JohnK]

To Fraser and Mak...
I don't know if you'll see this since the conservation is about 2 years old,
but thanks anyway. I found myself with the same issues of no page file and
boot issues. Luckily I found this post and now there are 2 success stories.