Pagefile and hiberfil on dual boot

[Jonas Lind]

I have a computer with 1 GB RAM, and my wanted setup is
dual-boot with MS-DOS on a FAT16 partition and XP on
another (NTFS) partition.

My first try was a 1 GB partition for MS-DOS. I installed
XP, and had installed a lot more software when I realized
setup had placed the pagefile.sys on my MS-DOS partition
(too small for a good pagefile and using up the entire
partition space), and a zero-sized hiberfil.sys entry on
the same partition.

Through Control Panel I moved the pagefile to the XP
partition. I hade already installed Norton AV and
ZoneAlarm firewall and I think it went wrong from there.
The file system got instable after just a few days, with
CHKDSK running at every start.

So - time for a fresh install. I increased the MS-DOS
partition to 2 GB just in case (this would fit in a 1.5 GB
page file). Now I got a full-size page file - on the XP
partition where I wanted it! But no trace of a
hiberfil.sys. (Yes, my hardware supports hibernation).
And I got an additional, small (128 MB) pagefile on the MS-
DOS partition, however it does not show in the Control
Panel applet.

Question:
1. How can I enable hibernation, and at the same time
create a hiberfil.sys where I want it? Will Windows make a
contiguous file for this (I expect a contiguous file is
preferred?)
2. May just I delete the seemingly unused small
pagefile.sys on the MS-DOS partition? Or will I get into
more trouble later? If I cannot just delete it, what would
be a safe way to get rid of it?

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello Jonas,
The option to enable hibernation should available in the Power Options
Control Panel applet.
There should be a hibernate tab with an option to enable Hibernation.
If that tab is not available, then a driver that was installed or an
application that was installed is preventing hibernation from being an
option.
What additional drivers have been installed?
Use MSconfig to see what applications are starting up?
You may try to disable some of them to see if the hibernate option becomes
available.
The hiberfil.sys file is generated on the drive that contains \windows. It
needs to be the size of the amount of RAM you have in your system and it
has to be at this location.
There is also a hiberfil.sys file created on the drive that contains the
boot.ini file if this drive is different than the drive that contains
Windows.
If they are different, the hiberfil.sys located on the drive with boot.ini
only contains a pointer to the larger hiberfil.sys located on the drive
with Windows. This will be a small file.
The pagefile can be deleted from the first drive. you can always boot to
recovery console to remove a pagefile or boot to MS-DOS to delete it. If
you are not in Windows, you can delete the pagefile safely.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

 

[Jonas Lind]

Darrell,

thanks for input! Your explanation also shed some light on
the inner workings of the hibernation wakeup.

Jonas Lind

-----Original Message-----
Hello Jonas,
The option to enable hibernation should available in the Power Options
Control Panel applet.
There should be a hibernate tab with an option to enable Hibernation.
If that tab is not available, then a driver that was installed or an
application that was installed is preventing hibernation from being an
option.
What additional drivers have been installed?
Use MSconfig to see what applications are starting up?
You may try to disable some of them to see if the hibernate option becomes
available.
The hiberfil.sys file is generated on the drive that contains \windows. It
needs to be the size of the amount of RAM you have in your system and it
has to be at this location.
There is also a hiberfil.sys file created on the drive that contains the
boot.ini file if this drive is different than the drive that contains
Windows.
If they are different, the hiberfil.sys located on the drive with boot.ini
only contains a pointer to the larger hiberfil.sys located on the drive
with Windows. This will be a small file.
The pagefile can be deleted from the first drive. you can always boot to
recovery console to remove a pagefile or boot to MS-DOS to delete it. If
you are not in Windows, you can delete the pagefile safely.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

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From: "Jonas Lind" <[email protected]>
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Subject: Pagefile and hiberfil on dual boot
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I have a computer with 1 GB RAM, and my wanted setup is
dual-boot with MS-DOS on a FAT16 partition and XP on
another (NTFS) partition.

My first try was a 1 GB partition for MS-DOS. I installed
XP, and had installed a lot more software when I realized
setup had placed the pagefile.sys on my MS-DOS partition
(too small for a good pagefile and using up the entire
partition space), and a zero-sized hiberfil.sys entry on
the same partition.

Through Control Panel I moved the pagefile to the XP
partition. I hade already installed Norton AV and
ZoneAlarm firewall and I think it went wrong from there.
The file system got instable after just a few days, with
CHKDSK running at every start.

So - time for a fresh install. I increased the MS-DOS
partition to 2 GB just in case (this would fit in a 1.5 GB
page file). Now I got a full-size page file - on the XP
partition where I wanted it! But no trace of a
hiberfil.sys. (Yes, my hardware supports hibernation).
And I got an additional, small (128 MB) pagefile on the MS-
DOS partition, however it does not show in the Control
Panel applet.

Question:
1. How can I enable hibernation, and at the same time
create a hiberfil.sys where I want it? Will Windows make a
contiguous file for this (I expect a contiguous file is
preferred?)
2. May just I delete the seemingly unused small
pagefile.sys on the MS-DOS partition? Or will I get into
more trouble later? If I cannot just delete it, what would
be a safe way to get rid of it?

.