Windows 8.1: Constant 'Low Memory' warnings with 5GB of free memory

Anonymous
2013-12-11T19:24:33+00:00

I'm getting these 'Low Memory' warnings constantly it's getting really annoying (like everything else in this OS).  I'm running Win8.1 64bit with 8GB of RAM, as soon as it passes 3GB of RAM used these warnings appear telling me to close various programs.  No 32bit processes are nearing their 2GB limit, the RAM's memtest indicates no issues.  How do I stop these warnings!?!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2014-01-06T06:26:05+00:00

Windows 8 reserves a % or 2gb whichever is smaller for the paging file by default, this is more than enough for most use-cases.

@Bob Eyster - you should read http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

The issue has absolutely nothing to do with the paging file.  It's 2/3rds empty when getting this error.  What appears to be happening is that the initial 4gb, which is available for 32bit applications, is being used by the 64bit applications causing it to think it's going to run out of 32bit addressing space once it hits the 4gb limit.  In reality the 64bit applications should be pushed into the 2nd 4gb space to make room fro the 32bit applications.  Unfortunately this error message doesn't seem to recognize the difference between the two and reports the error erroneously.  Calculating just the 32bit apps they are using less than 2.3gb of addressing space with 64bit using the remaining 0.9gb.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-03-15T19:45:42+00:00

    I have exactly the same problem.  It only started when I installed 8.1.  Never before has this troubled me prior to this.  I have done nothing different, and this happens even when I have one web tab and just one ms office app open.  Having a hard time believing this is not a Microsoft problem w/ 8.1.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-17T20:07:15+00:00

    ***a full 4GB of main memoryfor 32bit another 4GB for 64bit) and a 12.5GB paging file***

    that does make sense

    are you in 8.1 x64 with 4gb physical ram with 12.5gb page files or does windows say your comitt limit is 12.5gb? The second means 4gb ram plus 8.5gb in page files

    your mixing 4gb twice with 32 then 64gb so it's a tad confusing. 

    8GB of physical RAM and a manually set minimum 4.5GB, maximum 12.5GB paging file.

    When the error pops up resource mon shows between 35% and 40% memory usage.  It remains stable at this level until the eventual crash.  No processes show any significant changes (+/- 2%) from the time of the first warning.

    I use Win 8.1 on a Dell 9020. Fresh installed on Dec 20 2014. After many updates, this low memory warning started to pop up by April 2nd. The only program installed before this date is VMware, which I run full screen sometimes. Out of 8 Gb, memory in use was never more than 35% when I loaded every program I normally use at the same time. No virus involved with this Win 8.1 "feature" . Page Memory was 4Gb-20Gb.

    So, today I disabled the Virtual memory (no PageFile.sys on root folder) and I loaded the memory (8Gb) with two Virtual Machines (VM) and other programs until free memory was less than 1GB. 

    Only at this point, Windows showed the Low Memory warning. I'd deduce that there's a problem with the Virtual Memory Management. I'm keeping it this way until further notice from MS ("Upgrade to the latest/greatest Win 10")

    Update, 3 days so far and no warning messages (04/20/15)

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-05-23T14:05:44+00:00

    After 4 Intel driver updates this problem is still occurring and is very easy to reproduce.  Just run a 32-bit browser and a 32-bit game and it'll usually happen within 10-15 minutes.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-05-11T20:58:28+00:00

    I have issues also of 100% disk use with just 50% memory use. It never goes above 50% even though the memory tests out as fine with both Dell's and Microsoft's testing.

    The advice above might be helpful if I knew how to disable the pagefile system safely. I guess I'll research it.

    I did have to reinstall the Intel Rapid Storage Driver six months ago, after a Dell "update" to the BIOS managed to uninstall it by mistake. Dell was absolutely no help because the computer was out of warranty, even though it was their fault and they knew it.

    Thinking about it, I believe the disk use issue started after the reinstall of the Intel Driver. I still haven't read all the posts here, so I'm not sure what the connection is to Intel.

    However, everything I've read so far indicates that Windows 8.1 Virtual Memory Management is messed up. With 8GB of memory, maybe I'll just disable it, too.

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