How does one increase VIRTUAL MEMORY?

I have no clue what virtual memory is, but i know im running real low of it.
My system increases it a little, my question is, can i increase it manually? Do i need to change something or delete stuff?

You can buy RAM ?

When you're running low on actual RAM, the Operating System (Windows in your case, I'm assuming), treats part of your hard disk as RAM. The problem with this system is that 1. A hard disk is a heck of a lot slower than RAM and 2. If the drive being used for virtual memory runs out of disk space then it'll give you this error. Tell me what OS you're using and I'll tell you how to solve the problem.
Cheers,
cgkanchi

He's using Windows 98 or 95. Windows Nt family doesn't go low on virtual memory. Go in your Control Panel, System, Performance and Virtual Memory and have fun.

SDK, yes it does. I've had it happen to me a few times. And I'm running windows xp with 256 megs of RAM. If another user or two are logged on and you start a memory intensive application like a game, you can run out of virtual memory.
Cheers,
cgkanchi

Im running Windows 2000

For windows 2000
Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and under Virtual memory, click Change.
In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
Under Paging file size for selected drive, type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set

And for windows Xp users

Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
On the Advanced tab, under Virtual memory, click Change.
Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, and type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum page file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Increases typically do not require a restart.

Low Virtual Memory on Windows 2000? Hmm. I use to Run Windows 2000 with 64 mg flawless in june 2002. The New SP need more memory?

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Originally posted here by SDK
Low Virtual Memory on Windows 2000? Hmm. I use to Run Windows 2000 with 64 mg flawless in june 2002. The New SP need more memory?

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Several things dictate the usage of virtual memory and how much you have. On your machine you may have never needed more than 64MB, however that seems unlikely. It was quite possibly your HDD space. A lot of people these days install Windows on a partition that is limited in size adn then install everything on a second partition. Be default Windows creates the swap/page file on %systemdrive%. If this partition is small, you will run into Virtual memory problems as you install service packs, patches and other things that take up the remaining space on this drive. Another problem that people run into is that they modify their virtual memory settings and set them at static settings which aren't enough to suit their needs.

I notice that all of the replies to this post, so far, are from senior members and as such imho. I would think that they are quite knowledgable about computers and how they work. Whilst i would agree with the advice and instructions given i would just like to say this.

Messing with vertual ram and paging files can lead to unexpected results and i would sugest that, if you don't no what you are doing fully to leave well alone. And although it pains me to say it let windows manage it.

At the very least if you must change settings learn how to recover from a system that will not boot.

Just my opinion

Jinxy

I've never had a system that would not boot just because I changed virtual memory settings. How did you manage that (I'm curious). In the very least, we always have last known good configuration to select at the boot menu.
Cheers,
cgkanchi

cgkanchi, win98.
Ok so xp and 2000 protect you from messing up but try it on 98. There is no last good configeration to go back to.

I'm still curious as to what you did with the virtual memory settings to make win98 not boot. Aside from setting it to a read-only drive, or one that is already totally full, I can't think of anything.
Cheers,
cgkanchi

I to am curious.

From what I understand, theres nothing really "dangerous" about giving windos a good dose of virtual memory.

It does not edit important files, it basically just tells windows to use x amount of space on the hard drive if it runs out of ram.

I'd be hardpressed to believe you could make a system non-bootable by changing the virtual memory settings. Since this is just a place to swap data that's momentarily not being used in and out of ram.. the worst you should be able to do is leave yourself with insufficient memory errors. This would require you to have a very minimal amount of RAM though. Also if you had too much stuff loading on boot and such, then you should be fine in safe mode since it is a minimal boot anyways. I could see disabling it causing a lot of problems, but not causing the computer to stop booting. Anyways that's just my two cents.

HT

It has been a while since i had the problem and it only happend once. I had just been given my first pc and was messing with just about everything i could to see what would happen. I had read an article on improving system performance and one off the tweeks was to set a fixed amount of vertual memory rather than let windows manage it. So i followed the given instructions ( i cant remember what they where now ) and it would not boot.

Im going to make a wild guess here. If you did anything like I used to do when I had my first computer, you ran across a bunch of tweaks and went "hot damn"...

So I went in changed a couple things, rebooted, changed a couple more things, etc., until it wouldn't boot anymore. So I would wager that it was the cumulation of the changes you made that caused your system to become unbootable. ;)

In the future, when applying changes, apply them one at a time, and don't change anything else until you know for sure that you haven't hosed something. Another good idea is to keep a notebook beside your computer (I have several) to keep track of what changes you made and when.

It's either that, or you end up reinstalling your OS a lot.

Hi,

How much RAM have you got?. Contrary to what a lot of self-styled "gurus" will tell you there is no "magic multiplier". The less RAM you have, the more virtual memory you will need.

For example, this machine has 128Mb of RAM and I have set the virtual memory to 384Mb.

You have to be careful that there is enough space on the drive/partition you choose. Take a restore point and defragment the chosen partition before you do it.

I would seriously consider increasing your physical RAM if it is less than 256Mb.

Cheers

ok this is a trip, i went into the control panel, looing for the advanced tab, but could find nothing. Im stumped here, but im thinking im better off to just reformat both drives and start fresh all over again. I need to take more precausions before downloading so much $#it.
I allways do this, and i never learn. heh. Im going to do it tomarrow if i can, i need to aquire a win98 disc, i have windows2k but i hate it, it sux. (my opinion). And im used to win98 more than any OS.

I need to ready it with the right stuff, so i might be offline for a while,

heh, wish me luck.

Ok in post #7 I explain how to get to it
Once you are in the control panel double click on the icon called system it looks like a little computer, on the right hand side of the System properties box that comes up you will see the Advanced tab.