Paging File on Wrong Drive

[Bryan R. Meyer]

I currently have two hard drives labeled as C and D both formatted in
NTFS. Windows XP is loaded onto C. For some reason, however, the
paging file (pagefile.sys) is always loaded onto D. I checked the
settings in System in the Control Panel and the paging file is set for
drive C. I checked the PagingFiles key in
HKLM>System>CurrentControlSet>Session Manager>Memory Management in the
registry, and the location is set for c:\pagefile.sys.

Permissions are set such that SYSTEM has full control of C. I checked
Disk Management and it shows D's status as Healthy (Page File).
Clearly, D should not have the page file.

What is the solution here? I know some of you will recommend leaving
the page file on D, but it is a small drive and I may not keep it
around much longer. But I need to know why the paging file will not
go on C.

Any ideas? Thanks,
Bryan

 

[gaspin]

(e-mail address removed) (Bryan R. Meyer) wrote in

I currently have two hard drives labeled as C and D both formatted in
NTFS. Windows XP is loaded onto C. For some reason, however, the
paging file (pagefile.sys) is always loaded onto D. I checked the
settings in System in the Control Panel and the paging file is set for
drive C. I checked the PagingFiles key in
HKLM>System>CurrentControlSet>Session Manager>Memory Management in the
registry, and the location is set for c:\pagefile.sys.

Permissions are set such that SYSTEM has full control of C. I checked
Disk Management and it shows D's status as Healthy (Page File).
Clearly, D should not have the page file.

What is the solution here? I know some of you will recommend leaving
the page file on D, but it is a small drive and I may not keep it
around much longer. But I need to know why the paging file will not
go on C.

Any ideas? Thanks,
Bryan

Read this:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307886

 

[Unknown]

I currently have two hard drives labeled as C and D both formatted in
NTFS. Windows XP is loaded onto C. For some reason, however, the
paging file (pagefile.sys) is always loaded onto D. I checked the
settings in System in the Control Panel and the paging file is set for
drive C. I checked the PagingFiles key in
HKLM>System>CurrentControlSet>Session Manager>Memory Management in the
registry, and the location is set for c:\pagefile.sys.

Permissions are set such that SYSTEM has full control of C. I checked
Disk Management and it shows D's status as Healthy (Page File).
Clearly, D should not have the page file.

You can turn page file on or off by going to systems properties and Advanced
then Settings under that and Advanced tab there. Click the CHANGE button and
you get a list of drives. Click on C drive and change it to what you want -
Sysem Managed is better and the machine is faster as a result. Once you have
set it to what you want, you HAVE to click on the SET button to the right.
Now click on D drive and then click on "No paging file" and click on teh SET
button. Click OK to everything and then reboot. Once back in, you may still
have a page file on D drive but it will no longer be in use so you can
simply delete it.

 

[Ron Martell]

I currently have two hard drives labeled as C and D both formatted in
NTFS. Windows XP is loaded onto C. For some reason, however, the
paging file (pagefile.sys) is always loaded onto D. I checked the
settings in System in the Control Panel and the paging file is set for
drive C. I checked the PagingFiles key in
HKLM>System>CurrentControlSet>Session Manager>Memory Management in the
registry, and the location is set for c:\pagefile.sys.

Permissions are set such that SYSTEM has full control of C. I checked
Disk Management and it shows D's status as Healthy (Page File).
Clearly, D should not have the page file.

What is the solution here? I know some of you will recommend leaving
the page file on D, but it is a small drive and I may not keep it
around much longer. But I need to know why the paging file will not
go on C.

Any ideas? Thanks,
Bryan

If your system is actually using the page file to any significant
degree then you might get better performance by creating two page
files, one on each physical disk drive. That way Windows can choose
whichever page file is most efficient for any given paging operation.

The only reason that I can think of where the page file *must* be on
the boot drive is for the System Failure Memory Dumps. These dumps are
always put into the page file on the boot drive and then the file is
renamed. This is a faster process than creating a new file to contain
the memory dump and when these errors occur speed is essential.

See MVP Alex Nichol's article on Virtual Memory in Windows XP at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm especially the section on problems.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Bryan R. Meyer]

Ron,

If your system is actually using the page file to any significant
degree then you might get better performance by creating two page
files, one on each physical disk drive.

Thanks for the advice. I understand how this can improve performance,
but I'm trying to understand why the paging file is only on D. I
followed the Knowledge Base article (as mentioned in an above thread)
to move the paging file, but the file is always on D despite the fact
that I set it to C. I do not understand why this is happening. The
registry even points the paging file location as C:\pagefile.sys. So
why is the file not on C?

See MVP Alex Nichol's article on Virtual Memory in Windows XP at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm especially the section on problems.

I've read Alex's article which is very clear and concise. However, he
doesn't shed any light on the problem I'm having.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Unknown]

Ron,


Thanks for the advice. I understand how this can improve performance,
but I'm trying to understand why the paging file is only on D. I
followed the Knowledge Base article (as mentioned in an above thread)
to move the paging file, but the file is always on D despite the fact
that I set it to C. I do not understand why this is happening. The
registry even points the paging file location as C:\pagefile.sys. So
why is the file not on C?

Look back at my previous posting. I already explained, there, how to fix
this for you.

 

[Bryan R. Meyer]

Look back at my previous posting. I already explained, there, how to fix
this for you.

I appreciated you posting the procedure I should utilize to fix the
problem. Unfortunately, that is the problem. It does not work for
me. As I mentioned, the paging file is set in the registry to be
located at C:\pagefile.sys and still it shows on D: drive rather than
the C: drive.

I want to know why this is the case. The instructios you gave me do
not solve the problem.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Guest]

check your event log. if you see right after boot a message like "LDMS cannot
register error...", you lost. No more help available...

 

[Bryan R. Meyer]

check your event log. if you see right after boot a message like "LDMS cannot
register error...", you lost. No more help available...

No, my event log is free of errors.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Unknown]

I appreciated you posting the procedure I should utilize to fix the
problem. Unfortunately, that is the problem. It does not work for
me. As I mentioned, the paging file is set in the registry to be
located at C:\pagefile.sys and still it shows on D: drive rather than
the C: drive.

I want to know why this is the case. The instructios you gave me do
not solve the problem.

Thanks,
Bryan

Then my next guess is that you have pagefile on BOTH drives and D drive set
to show ALL files and do NOT have C drive set to show ALL files (system
files included) thus you can see the pagefile on D and not on C.

 

[Bryan R. Meyer]

Then my next guess is that you have pagefile on BOTH drives and D drive set
to show ALL files and do NOT have C drive set to show ALL files (system
files included) thus you can see the pagefile on D and not on C.

Well, under Folder Options > File Types, I have the box labeled "Hide
Protected Operating System Files" unchecked on both drives as
pagefile.sys is a protected file. So I can see the usual files on C
such as io.sys, config.sys, etc. But pagefile.sys is not there. It
is only on D.

I've tried everything. I just don't understand what is causing this
behavior.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Guest]

Bryan,

Did you ever get a reply to this that helped?

I have a drive where C: is a 2G primary partition FAT16 formatted, then
there is an Extended partition with D:, E:, and F: formatted FAT16, and then
two more primaries H: and I: formatted NTFS. XP is installed on H: and I
have my pagefile set to H:. About half the time the stupid OS decides it
wants to put the pagefile on C: and I get messages that C: is nearly full.
The other half the time it correctly puts it on H:. I have tried everything,
including following the procedures you have been told about.

YET at the same time at home I have a similar computer with the hard disk
set up exactly the same and never have the problem. The only things I can
think of are that the system at work is connected to an in-house LAN and has
Symantec anti-virus installed. I'm thinking that there MUST be a bug
somewhere such that when the system goes to put down the pagefile, the H:
drive is being rejected for some reason. Sounds like a bug to me in
SOMEBODY's code.

Sure wish Microsoft would respond to this one!

Jerry.

 

[Bryan Meyer]

Jerry:

Never did get a reply to this. I STILL have the same problem.

Bryan

 

[Guest]

Ok, Bryan, I got my problem solved. It turned out that the system evidently
didn't like the page file size I specified. I changed the size to "System
Managed" and now the page file is on H: where it's supposed to be. I noticed
that it is just a couple of k larger than what I had specified.

Jerry.

 

[Alex Nichol]

About half the time the stupid OS
decides it

If you have tried *everything* then there is nothing more to suggest.
But see Problems section at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm. Most likely
you have not left a notional amount on C:

 

[Guest]

Alex,

Bryan didn't write that - I did.

And I solved the problem - see my earlier reply.

And OF COURSE the C partition doesn't have enough space - it's a FAT16
partition, limited to 2 gigs, and when XP insists on erroneously putting the
swap file there af 1.5 gigs, that doesn't leave much. The problem was not
that the C drive was full, but the fact that XP was insisting on putting the
swap file there half the time even though I had it set to H. Ultimately the
problem was that I had the INITIAL SIZE specified in Control Panel just a
couple of K shorter than what XP wanted. So on every other boot, it
alternated between C and H. The swap file is now on the H drive where it's
supposed to be now that I set the size to "System Managed."

I had seen your referenced web page before and it didn't help in this case.

Jerry.

 

[Bryan]

Jerry:

I tried your suggestion of letting the system manage the pagefile
instead of setting a custom size. It did not help. I have over 10GB
on my C drive, so there really should not be a problem putting the
pagefile on that drive instead of on my D drive. Alex's article is
very in-depth and helpful, but it has not helped solve my problem.
Both of my drives are NTFS and the permissions for the SYSTEM user are
set appropriately.

There is absolutely NO reason this should be happening. The only
possibility I can come up with is that my D drive may have once housed
my Windows XP operating system. I cannot remember for sure, but it's a
strong possibility. I know I moved the OS to a larger hard drive
awhile ago. Perhaps it has something to do with drive letters? I am
lost.

I cannot find any information in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase about this
either. It's frustrating. I need my D drive to be void of any system
files as I want to do some video capturing with that drive and any
activity on it will ruin the quality of my capture.

Bryan