Virtual Memory - page file creation error

[Konstantin]

I have recently been having some problems with my virtual
memory.

Some time ago I suddently got a message (after a computer
restart right after the welcome screen) saying that
either I did not have virtual memory or I had very amount
of virtual memory. I went to system properties, clicked
the performance tab and got a message that a page file
was created because I did not have one. I went to C drive
and for some reason there was still no page file. Later I
went back to virtual memory options and found out that
the settings are set properly - 766 megabytes min and
about 1200 maximum. I clicked apply, got a message to
restart the computer and the same thing happened again -
got the error message after the welcome screen...

Somebody please help me with this...

P.S. my task manager strangely indicates that I have a
page file of 290 megabytes (although I don't) but as soon
as I go over my memory limit and don't have any free
memory left, the programs just close themselves. That
means I really do not have that page file..

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please have a look at the following article by Alex Nichol:

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

 

[Plato]

I have recently been having some problems with my virtual
memory.

What happens when you let windows manage it instead guessing yourself
what the min/max should be?

 

[Konstantin]

-----Original Message-----

Plato:
What happens when you let windows manage it instead guessing yourself
what the min/max should be?

If I let the windows manage, there is no difference.
Still the same error. What do you mean what the min/max
should be? The values that I gave were usual ones before
this happened.


Will Denny:

Hi

Please have a look at the following article by Alex Nichol:

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

Just checked out the site, tried their methods to fix the
paging file.. but the problem is I do not have one..
can't fix a corrupt paging if I do not have one.. but
nevertheless I was desperate to try the method and I did.
I set paging file to "none" and shut down the PC. After
that I, booted up (didn't get any errors then) and
changed to my prefered size. Very soon after another
reboot, I was back at square one. I just got the error
again...

 

[Alex Nichol]

Some time ago I suddently got a message (after a computer
restart right after the welcome screen) saying that
either I did not have virtual memory or I had very amount
of virtual memory. I went to system properties, clicked
the performance tab and got a message that a page file
was created because I did not have one. I went to C drive
and for some reason there was still no page file. Later I
went back to virtual memory options and found out that
the settings are set properly - 766 megabytes min and
about 1200 maximum. I clicked apply, got a message to
restart the computer and the same thing happened again -
got the error message after the welcome screen...

Go to the Virtual Memory - Change and select each drive in turn , select
no paging file and Click Set. When all are done, OK out and reboot.
That should clean out any page files - have Folder Options - View set to
show Hidden files, and *not* Hide Protected mode ones and look for a
pagefile.sys on each drive, delete it if found, to get rid of any
corrupt one. Now go back and set up C to have a file, Custom. BTW I
would have a much lower initial size; it sound as if you have 512MB RAM,
make Initial say 200 which is probably enough, but keep Max fairly high,
900 or so. Click Set, OK out and reboot again and hopefully things will
recover

 

[Konstantin]

-----Original Message-----



Go to the Virtual Memory - Change and select each drive in turn , select
no paging file and Click Set. When all are done, OK out and reboot.
That should clean out any page files - have Folder Options - View set to
show Hidden files, and *not* Hide Protected mode ones and look for a
pagefile.sys on each drive, delete it if found, to get rid of any
corrupt one. Now go back and set up C to have a file, Custom. BTW I
would have a much lower initial size; it sound as if you have 512MB RAM,
make Initial say 200 which is probably enough, but keep Max fairly high,
900 or so. Click Set, OK out and reboot again and hopefully things will
recover

Nope... didn't work.. and like I said before, I cannot
fix any pagefile.sys files if I don't have them on my
hard drive. I use Total Commander (windows commander) to
browse my hard drive folders and I have setting set to
view all hidden files. There is just no pagefile.sys
Changing the file size after rebooting without a pagefile
did not help.. I did try that before. The only difference
is that when it is manually set so that there will be no
pagefile, the error just doesn't pop up.

I can just summarize my error as mentioned in the subject
line - Windows just cannot create the file pagefile.sys.
period.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Nope... didn't work.. and like I said before, I cannot
fix any pagefile.sys files if I don't have them on my
hard drive. I use Total Commander (windows commander) to
browse my hard drive folders and I have setting set to
view all hidden files. There is just no pagefile.sys
Changing the file size after rebooting without a pagefile
did not help.. I did try that before. The only difference
is that when it is manually set so that there will be no
pagefile, the error just doesn't pop up.

Check settings in registry with regedit.exe - look at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
Session Manager\Memory Management

The ones above PagingFiles should all be set to 0 (apart from Default);
this sounds as it DisablePagingExecutive may have been changed.
PagingFiles should indicate the page file(s) in use; eg
as C:\Pagefile.sys 100 800
(possibly more than one item) and the two below should also be zero.

On mine SessionPoolSize is 4 and SessionViewSize 30 (48) while
WriteWatch is 1

But the Disable is the one I suspect.
ClearPageFileAtShutdown *could* be on 1, but I would not as a regular
setting; it is only for those very paranoid about security and the
*possibility* someone could load another system and look for sensitive
data in it while windows was downloaded

 

[Konstantin]

ahh finally something helpfull

I went inside the registry. ClearPagefileAtShutdown is 0
but DisablePagingExecutive is 1. Everthing else is the
same as on your computer.

Is DisablePagingExecutive 1 the problem here and
something should be done to fix it? (if so, how?)

Or, if everything in my registry is ok, what else could
be wrong?

P.S. PagingFiles is at C:\pagefile.sys 200 900

 

[R. McCarty]

DisablePagingExecutive is a key that prevents XP from placing
system code in the Pagefile. In other words, regardless of what
applications are running and should be given foreground priority,
XP will be forced to keep all system code in physical memory.
This option is normally used only by systems with ample memory
and is considered a "Performance Tweak".

 

[Konstantin]

In other words I have to set the function to "0"? Is that
correct?

Sorry if I understood wrongly.

 

[R. McCarty]

Right, It's default value is 0. For people that have really
high amounts of physical RAM (1.0 Gig+) it's an option
they might consider changing.

Basically, Memory Management is a balanced function
and XP is tuned for defaults. Anytime you modify how
Memory is handled, you may get unanticipated results.

 

[Konstantin]

Just tried setting that to "0"

Didn't work... is there anything else that I can change?

 

[R. McCarty]

That setting won't affect the existence of a Pagefile, just whether
the Pagefile can be used for system code. Just reconfirming, but
your original problem is that your system doesn't have a Pagefile?
If that's the case, then I would boot to "Safe Mode" and set the
Pagefile parameters from there. Use the Administrator account to
set it up. I'm not familiar with the Total Commander, but it may
have internal filters to block certain system files from appearing.
To verify no pagefile, open a Command Prompt CD (Change Dir)
to the Root of C:\ (..) and do a Dir /AH or whatever drive letter
you've attempted to create a Pagefile on.

 

[Konstantin]

Didn't work.. I set to "no pagefile", restarted computer
in safe mode and used the Admin account to create the
pagefile..restarted again... no luck.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I went inside the registry. ClearPagefileAtShutdown is 0
but DisablePagingExecutive is 1. Everthing else is the
same as on your computer.

Is DisablePagingExecutive 1 the problem here and
something should be done to fix it? (if so, how?)

Almost certainly yes. Double click the line in the Name column and set
the edit box to 0 - OK, then close and restart

 

[Konstantin]

Didn't I just told the other guy already?
It doesn't work..