How to Increase the Virtual Memory & PageFile in XP

Virtual memory allows the hard drive to be used as temporary space for applications.

In Windows, virtual memory is used to create an extra storage buffer for the temporary space that applications need while they are running. Virtual memory is stored as a file on the hard drive called the "page file" and is used primarily when the computer is out of physical RAM. Normally, Windows manages the size of the page file, and it is not something you need to think about. However, if you have adjusted the page file size manually, you might receive an error message when too many applications are open. Increase the virtual memory allocation in Windows XP if you receive an error message when running too many applications simultaneously.

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button in the lower-left corner of the screen, then click "Run" to display the Run dialog box. Type "cmd" in the box and press "Enter." The command prompt appears.

2. Type "cscript //h:cscript //s" at the command prompt and press "Enter." Windows responds that "cscript.exe" is now the default script host, enabling you to run Visual Basic commands directly from the command prompt.

3. Type "pagefileconfig" and press "Enter." The command prompt displays the location, initial size and maximum size of the page file (both in megabytes).

4. Type "pagefileconfig /change /i (value in MB) /m (value in MB) /vo c:" to change the initial and maximum size of the page file. The value after "/m" should be larger than the maximum page file size shown in the previous step. The value after "/i" should be the same as the new "/m" value; while this means that the page file will never be smaller than the maximum size, a constantly changing page file can become fragmented, hurting its performance.

   For example, if you wanted to increase the page file size to 1 GB, the completed command would be "pagefileconfig /change /i 1024 /m 1024. /vo c:." If you found in the previous step that the page file is hosted on a drive other than "C:," enter that drive letter instead. Press "Enter" after typing the command. The command prompt displays the word "SUCCESS," indicating that the command is completed.

5. Close the command prompt and restart the computer. When the computer restarts, the page file is increased to the new size you selected.

References

• Microsoft: Pagefileconfig.vbs Command