Short form: I want to use a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick as RAM, but seem to be unable to use more than 4GB, due to the system requirements, limiting what I can enter for values (size). WHY?? More detail: The computer is a desktop machine, having a 3.0GHz dual-core processor, and 4GB RAM installed. I believe the hard drive is a 1T. I have a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick, which I want to use to boost the RAM, for games, and such. There are 3 spare USB ports on the back of the tower. The flash drive is new, with NO files saved on it. When I go into the Settings; Computer; Virtual Memory, the computer is not allowing me to enter a value greater than 4096 in the field for "Initial Size" or "Maximum Size", for the Page File of the USB drive. The Value for C: that I see is: "2096-4092". Main Question: Is there some reason why I cannot allocate more of the memory stick for RAM? (Does the flash drive need to be formatted?) Does the values for C: need to be changed? I presently have "4090" entered for values "Initial Size" and "Maximum Size" in the custom size, for the Page File of the USB Drive. Screenshot provided of Virtual Memory Settings screen: (you can see the L: drive settings (selected), and the C: settings, also) http://prntscr.com/336ocy Question 2: Also, is the "4G" of RAM which I have added to the machine, being added to the 4GB which is already installed in the tower? Question 3: Does the OS wait until the system RAM is full before using the External RAM? Thanks! edit to add: What I learned from Microsoft article "How To Set Performance Options in Windows XP": http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/en-us To manually change the size of virtual memory, follow these steps: ... Note After you change the size of the paging file, you may be prompted to restart Windows. If you are prompted to restart, the changes will not take effect until Windows is restarted. ... To have Windows select the best paging file size, click System managed size. The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RAM, the minimum size is 384 MB, and the maximum size is 1152 MB. For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size as performance can decrease if a paging file is too large. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use lots of memory , such as graphics programs or games. What I am unclear of here, is that, as you can see in the screenshot, the Recommended Size under Total paging file size for all drives is 3019M. And, the values set for the Paging File in C are 2046-4092 . The tower has been rebuilt, and has 4GB RAM . I do not know if these numbers reflect an original build of 2GB, whereas 3GB (3019M) would be 1.5 times the installed RAM, perhaps. Under Virtual Memory, I see the following (shown in screenshot): Drive C Space available: 725194MB *Custom Size Initial Size: 2046 Maximum Size: 4092 Total paging file size for all Drives Minimum allowed: 2MB Recommended: 3019MB Currently Allocated: 2046MB Given that the system has 4GB RAM installed, shouldn't the minimum be 1.5 times that value, or ~6000MB ? (not 3019MB), and the maximum be 3 times ? (not 4092) "The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size." Can I change the values on the Virtual memory for C drive to 2046-12000MB ? That is what I am reading from the article. But, it also says to not have a paging file on the same drive as the programs. "Try to avoid having a paging file on the same drive as the system files, usually drive C." Also, why am I unable to enter values greater than 4096 for the USB drive in Initial or Maximum? I also have a question as to whether I should select "Programs" or "System Cache" in memory usage, due to the cache requirements of games, running very few programs. edit 2: I learned that the usb drive needs to be formatted in NTFS, so I did that, which isn't easy, as that isn't a selection in the choices in the Format menu, without going into Device Mgr. A friend was telling me about formatting a usb drive ex-fat for a newer application, and got me thinking. I had selected FAT32 for this one, and had noticed no change in the page file graph usage after adding the drive, like it wasn't getting any data placed on it. So, as custom settings for this USB drive, I have the Initial value at 4091 and the Maximum at 4096, with "System Cache" selected as opposed to "Programs" in Memory usage, in Performance settings. Any answers or tips would be appreciated. Am I on the right track?

Yes, I noticed that the Available is quite low. I will get Malwarebytes Antimalware PRO turned off, and only run that on scheduled scans. Wed and Sun is when I scheduled that to scan. I'll add the Tasklist.exe utility. Thank you! Doesn't XP have anything similar to what 7 has, where you can, in System and Security, select "Run Maintenance Tasks" and "Check for Performance Issues"? When I ran these on my laptops, which have Windows 7, it easily identified programs which ran at startup, and asked which ones I wanted to stop from running on startup. Is this different than what we are talking about? Of course, now I know how to get to services.msc, and use Autoruns. However, I will perform the steps which you have indicited, using the Command Prompts, and post the contents of the file. What is the last sentence about? Is that another Command which I must enter? edit to add: I got Malwarebytes Antimalware turned off. It was set to 'Start the module with Windows'. I unticked that box. Will do on my other computers, as well. Oops!

As it is showing now you are down to about 38MB of available RAM. And from your other list it looks like you have 2 antivirus programs running simultaneously, (AVG & Malwarebytes), a BIG no-no! At a Command Prompt issue the following commands, pressing enter after each: net start >C:\startlist.txt tasklist /svc >>C:\startlist.txt C:\startlist.txt Copy and paste the contents of the startlist.txt file to your next post. Note the single redirector ">" in the first command and the double one ">>" in the second command. Note that Windows XP Home doesn't include the Tasklist.exe utility. I can't figure out why Microsoft excluded this utility from the Home Edition but you can copy the file over from a Windows XP Pro machine or you can download a copy of it here: http://www.computerhope.com/download/winxp.htm Put the utility in your Windows\System32 folder. tasklist | sort /R /+58 >c:\Memuse.txt will sort the processes by biggest memory users and pipe the results to the indicated .txt file. Omit the redirector to see the results at the command console (tasklist | sort /R /+58) John

The peak commit was over 4G. Closing all of the browsers and reopening brings it down to 'reasonable' levels. The available is still quite low. Hopefully, adding the extra RAM, plus trimming more junk will help a bunch. Plus, I may be able to move some of this activity over to a laptop pc. Thanks for the tips on the 'critical' systems list.

I looked in Task Mgr at the list yesterday, and a lot of them at the top were Dragon or avg (my antivirus). Here are 2 screenshot today. I woke today to the message: Your virtual memory is low. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory. Tiger direct got an order last night for one 2GB identical memory card to the one like I currently have installed. I will work on trimming the processes.

Having trouble: Adding RAM with a USB memory stick to a Windows XP desktop that has 4GB installed

Anonymous

Short form:

I want to use a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick as RAM, but seem to be unable to use more than 4GB, due to the system requirements, limiting what I can enter for values (size). WHY??

More detail:

The computer is a desktop machine, having a 3.0GHz dual-core processor, and 4GB RAM installed. I believe the hard drive is a 1T.

I have a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick, which I want to use to boost the RAM, for games, and such. There are 3 spare USB ports on the back of the tower. The flash drive is new, with NO files saved on it.

When I go into the Settings; Computer; Virtual Memory, the computer is not allowing me to enter a value greater than 4096 in the field for "Initial Size" or "Maximum Size", for the Page File of the USB drive.

The Value for C: that I see is: "2096-4092".

Main Question:

Is there some reason why I cannot allocate more of the memory stick for RAM?

(Does the flash drive need to be formatted?)

Does the values for C: need to be changed?

I presently have "4090" entered for values "Initial Size" and "Maximum Size" in the custom size, for the Page File of the USB Drive.

Screenshot provided of Virtual Memory Settings screen: (you can see the L: drive settings (selected), and the C: settings, also)

http://prntscr.com/336ocy

Question 2:

Also, is the "4G" of RAM which I have added to the machine, being added to the 4GB which is already installed in the tower?

Question 3:

Does the OS wait until the system RAM is full before using the External RAM?

Thanks!

edit to add:

What I learned from Microsoft article "How To Set Performance Options in Windows XP":

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/en-us

To manually change the size of virtual memory, follow these steps:

...Note After you change the size of the paging file, you may be prompted to restart Windows. If you are prompted to restart, the changes will not take effect until Windows is restarted.

...

To have Windows select the best paging file size, click System managed size. The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RAM, the minimum size is 384 MB, and the maximum size is 1152 MB.
For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size as performance can decrease if a paging file is too large. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use lots of memory, such as graphics programs or games.

What I am unclear of here, is that, as you can see in the screenshot, the Recommended Size under Total paging file size for all drives is 3019M.

And, the values set for the Paging File in C are 2046-4092.

The tower has been rebuilt, and has 4GB RAM.

I do not know if these numbers reflect an original build of 2GB, whereas 3GB (3019M) would be 1.5 times the installed RAM, perhaps.

Under Virtual Memory, I see the following (shown in screenshot):

Drive C

Space available: 725194MB

*Custom Size

Initial Size: 2046

Maximum Size: 4092

Total paging file size for all Drives

Minimum allowed: 2MB

Recommended: 3019MB

Currently Allocated: 2046MB

Given that the system has 4GB RAM installed, shouldn't the minimum be 1.5 times that value, or ~6000MB ? (not 3019MB), and the maximum be 3 times ? (not 4092)

"The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size."

Can I change the values on the Virtual memory for C drive to 2046-12000MB ?

That is what I am reading from the article. But, it also says to not have a paging file on the same drive as the programs.

"Try to avoid having a paging file on the same drive as the system files, usually drive C."

Also, why am I unable to enter values greater than 4096 for the USB drive in Initial or Maximum?

I also have a question as to whether I should select "Programs" or "System Cache" in memory usage, due to the cache requirements of games, running very few programs.

edit 2:

I learned that the usb drive needs to be formatted in NTFS, so I did that, which isn't easy, as that isn't a selection in the choices in the Format menu, without going into Device Mgr.

A friend was telling me about formatting a usb drive ex-fat for a newer application, and got me thinking. I had selected FAT32 for this one, and had noticed no change in the page file graph usage after adding the drive, like it wasn't getting any data placed on it.

So, as custom settings for this USB drive, I have the Initial value at 4091 and the Maximum at 4096, with "System Cache" selected as opposed to "Programs" in Memory usage, in Performance settings.

Any answers or tips would be appreciated.

Am I on the right track?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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149 answers

Anonymous

2014-03-26T23:42:19+00:00

Yes, I noticed that the Available is quite low.

I will get Malwarebytes Antimalware PRO turned off, and only run that on scheduled scans. Wed and Sun is when I scheduled that to scan.

I'll add the Tasklist.exe utility. Thank you!

Doesn't XP have anything similar to what 7 has, where you can, in System and Security, select "Run Maintenance Tasks" and "Check for Performance Issues"?

When I ran these on my laptops, which have Windows 7, it easily identified programs which ran at startup, and asked which ones I wanted to stop from running on startup. Is this different than what we are talking about?

Of course, now I know how to get to services.msc, and use Autoruns.

However, I will perform the steps which you have indicited, using the Command Prompts, and post the contents of the file.

What is the last sentence about? Is that another Command which I must enter?

edit to add:

I got Malwarebytes Antimalware turned off. It was set to 'Start the module with Windows'. I unticked that box. Will do on my other computers, as well. Oops!
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T19:08:31+00:00

As it is showing now you are down to about 38MB of available RAM. And from your other list it looks like you have 2 antivirus programs running simultaneously, (AVG & Malwarebytes), a BIG no-no!

At a Command Prompt issue the following commands, pressing enter after each:

net start >C:\startlist.txt

tasklist /svc >>C:\startlist.txt

C:\startlist.txt

Copy and paste the contents of the startlist.txt file to your next post.

Note the single redirector ">" in the first command and the double one ">>" in the second command.

Note that Windows XP Home doesn't include the Tasklist.exe utility. I can't figure out why Microsoft excluded this utility from the Home Edition but you can copy the file over from a Windows XP Pro machine or you can download a copy of it here: http://www.computerhope.com/download/winxp.htm Put the utility in your Windows\System32 folder.

tasklist | sort /R /+58 >c:\Memuse.txt will sort the processes by biggest memory users and pipe the results to the indicated .txt file. Omit the redirector to see the results at the command console (tasklist | sort /R /+58)

John
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T16:42:43+00:00

The peak commit was over 4G. Closing all of the browsers and reopening brings it down to 'reasonable' levels.

The available is still quite low. Hopefully, adding the extra RAM, plus trimming more junk will help a bunch.

Plus, I may be able to move some of this activity over to a laptop pc.

Thanks for the tips on the 'critical' systems list.
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T16:37:42+00:00

......
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T16:36:49+00:00

I looked in Task Mgr at the list yesterday, and a lot of them at the top were Dragon or avg (my antivirus).

Here are 2 screenshot today.

I woke today to the message: Your virtual memory is low. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory.

Tiger direct got an order last night for one 2GB identical memory card to the one like I currently have installed.

I will work on trimming the processes.
Was this answer helpful?

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