Win2K Server and 4GB memory

[steve]

Hi All

When they say that Win2k server cannot use more than 2GB of memory in User
mode does it mean that if I mount 4 GB of memory on a Win 2K Server (not
Advanced Server) I get that:

A) 2GB are used in Kernel mode and 2GB in User mode

b) 1GB is used in kernel mode, 2 GB are used in User mode and 1GB is not
used at all?

A) or B) or something else?

THanks!!!!

 

[William Hutchison [MSFT]]

Steve,

Selection A is correct. Normally, the 4 GB memory space is split evenly
between 2 GB Kernel mode and 2 GB User mode. The /3GB boot.ini flag can
shift 1 GB from Kernel mode and make it avaiable to the user mode. Some
links that might help are

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171793 and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297812

Hope this helps. Thanks.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

Umm - the amount of RAM used by the kernel/shared memory will not be 2GB. 2
GB of the 4 GB Virtual Address Space is used for pageable kernel and shared
memory, but, in most cases, only a small amount of this address space will
in fact be used or mapped to RAM. Only a small portion of the kernel memory
is not pageable.

Windows 2000 etc. are quite happy to run on computers with less than 2 GB of
RAM, which would not be possible if 2 GB of RAM is always allocated to
"kernel mode".

See
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm.

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

Steve,

Selection A is correct. Normally, the 4 GB memory space is split evenly
between 2 GB Kernel mode and 2 GB User mode. The /3GB boot.ini flag can
shift 1 GB from Kernel mode and make it avaiable to the user mode. Some
links that might help are

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171793 and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297812

Hope this helps. Thanks.

--
William Hutchison [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Hi All

When they say that Win2k server cannot use more than 2GB of memory in
User
mode does it mean that if I mount 4 GB of memory on a Win 2K Server (not
Advanced Server) I get that:

A) 2GB are used in Kernel mode and 2GB in User mode

b) 1GB is used in kernel mode, 2 GB are used in User mode and 1GB is not
used at all?

A) or B) or something else?

THanks!!!!