Pagefile and dual boot

[ralph]

This is a dual boot system with Windows XP Pro installed on both bootable
partitions. There is one hard drive with five partitions. Both operating
systems use the same letter designations. The two operating systems use
volumes C and D. Volumes E, F and G contain data. Volume E is seldom
accessed.

Currently volumes C and D have their own page files (on the same volume as
each opeating systems). In order to save some space on C and D, I I would
like to remove the page files from C and D and create a page file on E.

If I do this, may I use the same page file for both operating systems?

I find this to a bit confusing and I would very much appreciate detailed
instructions for doing this.
thanks.....ralph

 

[John John - MVP]

See in-line below.

This is a dual boot system with Windows XP Pro installed on both bootable
partitions. There is one hard drive with five partitions. Both operating
systems use the same letter designations. The two operating systems use
volumes C and D. Volumes E, F and G contain data. Volume E is seldom
accessed.

Currently volumes C and D have their own page files (on the same volume as
each opeating systems). In order to save some space on C and D, I I would
like to remove the page files from C and D and create a page file on E.

If I do this, may I use the same page file for both operating systems?
Yes.


I find this to a bit confusing and I would very much appreciate detailed
instructions for doing this.

Just set the pagefile for each operating system in the usual manner:
System Properties>Advanced>Performance>Advanced>Virtual Memory. It's
usually best to keep a small pagefile on the system partition, this
pagefile is needed to capture memory dumps on system failure. Having
the pagefile on a partition other than the system partition on the same
disk is usually not a recommended practice, it would be best to move it
to a different hard disk. You may see a performance hit when you do
this, how much of a hit you see will depend on how much memory you have
in the computer and how you use your computer. If you have lots of RAM
or if you only do light work with the computer the hit may not be
noticeable or hardly noticeable at all.

John

 

[ralph]

Hi John:
Thank you for your help.
I have only one hard drive but I have 2 GB memory. How large is the "small "
page file that should be kept on the each system partition?

Just to make sure I understand what to do:
The OS on C will have a small page file on C and a "large" page file on E.
The OS on D will have a small page file on D and a "large" page file on E.
The small page files should have the same size parameters.
There is actually only 1 "large" page file on E which both operating system
use.
Both operating system Virtual Memory pages should specify the same size
parameters for the page file on E.
??Correct
.....ralph

 

[John John (MVP)]

You have plenty of RAM so you shouldn't see much of a performance hit,
you probably won't notice any difference.

There will only be one large pagefile on E:. You can set the pagefile
to the same size in both operating system... or to different sizes, it
doesn't really matter, when you boot the operating system the Session
Manager reads the pagefile settings information from the registry and
creates the pagefile according to the information held in the registry
so it doesn't matter what the other system in your multi-boot setup
does, the other one will do its own thing when it boots. The small
pagefile on the other partition can be as small as 2MB, if Windows
doesn't like that it may resize it to a bit bigger size.

John

 

[ralph]

John:
Thanks for your very clear directions.
.................ralph

 

[John John (MVP)]

You're welcome.

John:
Thanks for your very clear directions.
................ralph

 

[ralph]

Hi John:
Need some more assistance.
I booted up from partition 2 (D).
I set the page file on E to an initial size of 1512 MB and a maximum size of
3024 MB. I set the page file on D (the boot volume) to 2 and 2 or 2 and 3.
This reuslted in a pagefile.sys on E of a resonable size. However, either no
page file resulted on D or it disappeared after booting. Otherwise the
computer appears to be functioning normally.
.....ralph

 

[John John - MVP]

I think that the installation on D may use the pagefile on C for memory
dump. I'm not sure about this, it's been a while since I've run a dual
boot setup. I'm going to throw a test setup together tomorrow and see
what I can find out.

If all runs fine I wouldn't worry too much about it for now, if Windows
isn't happy with the pagefile setup it will let you know! Or it will
adjust things to its likings! The small pagefile on the boot volume is
only needed for memory dumps, when the computer crashes and gets a BSOD
it needs a pagefile to dump the information, in any case hardly no one
knows how to properly read a memory dump file and fewer even bother with
them, so it will probably not be a big deal if you don't have one in the
event of a BSOD, you will just get the information from the screen and
take it from there.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

I put a test setup together and it looks like (on my test box) the
system doesn't create any pagefiles on the boot volumes if the size is
set to less than 5MB. If you set your System Properties Startup and
Recovery option to write a Small memory dump (64 KB) this 5MB pagefile
should capture it.

John

 

[ralph]

Hi John:
Still a problem.
I tried setting the page file's Inital size on D to 5MB and the Maximum size
to 10MB. I also tried 10 and 20 with the same result. Doing so generally
creates a 5 or 10 MB pagefil.sys on D. However, when I re-boot the page file
always disappears. The settings in the Virtual Memory window continue to
show the "custom" parameters. The large page file created on E does not
appear to have any problems.
BTW: The small memory dump is set to 64 KB- appears to be the default.
.......ralph

 

[John John - MVP]

Run the following at a Command Prompt:

cscript %systemroot%\system32\pagefileconfig.vbs

What does it return?

(You can send the output of the command to a file then copy the
information from the file and paste it in your next post, for example:

cscript %systemroot%\system32\pagefileconfig.vbs >C:\pageset.txt

Try setting the pagefile on the boot volumes to a static 5MB size,
select the Custom option and set the file to the same initial and
Maximum size, if it sticks you should see the pagefile appear on the
volume almost as soon as you click on the Set and OK buttons. Don't
forget to click on the "Apply" button when you close the screens.

John

 

[ralph]

Hi John:
Setting the pagefile to a static 5MB size did not help.
If the only reason to have a small page file on the boot volume is to allow
a small memory dump we really don't need it. The last time I look at a
memory dump was over 3 decades ago. However, if this is a system problem
that might cause problems we probably should figure out what is happening.
Here is the output or pagefileconfig.vbs:

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


Host Name: Q38
Drive/Volume: D:
Volume Label: DSK1_VOL2
Location\File Name: D:\pagefile.sys
Initial Size: 5 MB
Maximum Size: 5 MB
Current Size: N/A
Total Free Space: N/A

Host Name: Q38
Drive/Volume: E:
Volume Label: DSK1_VOL3
Location\File Name: E:\pagefile.sys
Initial Size: 1512 MB
Maximum Size: 3024 MB
Current Size: 1512 MB
Total Free Space: 22139 MB


Host Name: Q38
Total (All Drives): Minimum Size: 2 MB
Total (All Drives): Recommended Size: 3045 MB
Total (All Drives): Currently Allocated: 1512 MB
....ralph

 

[John John - MVP]

Other than not being able to capture memory dumps I really doubt that
this will cause you any problems. Try increasing the size of the static
file 1MB at a time until you see the pagefile appear on the drive, then
keep it set to that size and see if it sticks.

John