RAM Disk on Windows 11

Anonymous
2023-03-24T16:40:00+00:00

Hi, I wanted to create a RAM disk on Windows 11. I found an article for Windows 7 and 10 which has been updated recently:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/create-a-ram-disk-drive-in-windows-7-and-windows/cd42aac4-8b0e-4b61-a2ea-9560a3e17d5b

However, when I tried it on Windows 11, it didn't seem to work properly.

After making changes to the TEMP and TMP environment variables as well as some application specific temp / cache paths to point them towards the RAM disk, everything appeared fine initially. But when running more intensive workloads, I experienced intermittent crashes and eventually a blue screen: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (probably related to the storage driver implementation used by ImDisk).

After reverting the changes I made to the temp / cache directories, removing the RAM disk, and uninstalling ImDisk, everything has been stable again.

My question is: Is there any way to set up a RAM Disk on Windows 11 without compromising system stability?

For my use case, I don't require persistent storage, but it should be auto-mounted on boot.

Thank you, Paul.

PS: Please ignore discussions regarding why someone might need such a setup; each person has their own unique use case which doesn't necessarily apply universally.

PPS: Revisiting this thread after nearly a year reveals that there is no official solution from Microsoft. While there may be paid options available, given the history of free solutions causing issues under load, I am hesitant to invest time and money checking each one individually.

In summary, there seems to be no official or unofficial (but endorsed) solution at present.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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.

0 comments

46 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-30T16:11:16+00:00

    Please let me know how it goes, you may save me some time :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-30T07:38:32+00:00

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/unified-write-filter/uwf-turnonuwf

    I noticed this is available in Windows 11 in the add or remove windows features for the Device Lockdown section, but I have not explored this feature as of yet for my own purposes. My OS Build 22631.4751.

    Thanks for this interesting information. I knew about it when setting up older Thin Clients in the day but wasn't expecting this to be available in the 'normal' version of Windows. I see its there in W11 24H2. Will try this out on a test PC even I don't have a purpose for it yet :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-11-01T00:43:58+00:00

    For those of you that might be unaware what ramdisk is, makes it possible to turn a portion of ram into a storage device which you can then direct your temp files to the path of your ramdisk storage and any other files that can fit in the space you have allocated.

    Make sure you backup the original paths before before using a ramdisk.

    It sounds like you created your ramdisk before knowing how much RAM your work load uses. I highly recommend changing everything you changed to the default settings and measure how much RAM you use for your workload. What's going on is you dedicated a certain amount of ram for your personal use and didn't leave enough ram for your system

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-08T10:23:28+00:00

    Successor of ImDisk:
    https://arsenalrecon.com/faqs/

    What are some of the key differences between Arsenal Image Mounter’s “Free Mode” and “Professional Mode”?

    Free Mode

    • RAM disk creation with either static or dynamic memory allocation

    I tried the free mode version and this also has the ability to create RAM disks.

    As this version is actively maintained I think i switch from imdisk to Arsenal Recon for RAMdisk functionality.

    Well see what the future brings (technically and licensing 'updates').

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments