You can manually configure virtual memory in Windows vista/windows XP by custom setting maximum and minimum size of paging file (pagefile.sys) and also make use of free space on any available drive for storing such page files.Thereby you improve the performance of windows vista/windows XP running systems.

Windows Vista, XP and other windows OS use virtual memory to safeguard computers from instability and system crashes due to insufficient memory.Insufficient memory or RAM may be caused by too many resource intensive applications running simultaneously on a PC/computer.

What is virtual memory in windows operating systems?

When you PC/computer runs out of RAM to run a program, windows uses virtual memory instead.Virtual memory combines your PC/computer’s RAM with temporary space on your PC/computer’s physical hard disk.

How does virtual memory work in windows operating systems?

When the computer does not have enough RAM to run a program i.e. when RAM goes low on your PC/computer, virtual memory moves unused data from RAM to some temporary disk storage space called a paging file.The default location of the page file is in the root directory of the partition where Windows is installed. Swapping data to and from the paging file frees up RAM to complete its work.Thus virtual memory is a temporary solution to low RAM on your PC/computer as your application/program can continue to run smooth on a continuous working memory.

Frequent virtual memory warnings or error messages:

However, it is always better to increase RAM when you receive frequent warnings for low virtual memory.But as a temporary solution, you can increase the size of your paging file and continue to run your program/application.Though windows can automatically manage paging file size, you can also manually change the size of virtual memory if the default size is not enough for your needs.

How to configure virtual memory in windows vista?

Select Control Panel –> System and Maintenance –> System.
On the left pane, choose Advanced system settings.For choosing Advanced system settings, Administrator privilege is required and hence you may be prompted for an administrator password or confirmation.
Under Performance section, choose Settings.
Click the Advanced tab
Under Virtual memory section, click Change.
Clear the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” check box.By default windows automatically manages paging file size
Under Drive [Volume Label], select the appropriate the drive that contains the paging file whose size you want to change.
Then Click Custom size and type a new size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box.Both values can be set the same size.
click Set, and then click OK.
Instead of the above two steps, you can click System managed size, click Set and then click OK.This would make vista to dynamically(automatically) manage and allocate the paging file size for the chosen drive.

Note that you can increase paging file size without a restart but decreasing the paging file size,through the custom size option, will require you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

How to move paging file (pagefile.sys) to another drive in your system?

You can move the paging file (pagefile.sys) to another drive, by clicking on the “No paging file” radio button, and then clicking “Set” button. Then choose a different drive to set a new pagefile.sys with either custom size or system managed size options.

When is system managed size for paging file (pagefile.sys) useful?

System managed size option is useful for those PC users who do not want pagefile.sys to be located on the root drive of their systems (where windows vista/XP is installed), but want pagefile.sys to be located on another drive. However such users can still use Vista/XP to dynamically(automatically) manage and allocate the paging file size.

How to disable virtual memory in windows vista or windows XP?

To disable virtual memory or paging files, simply set no paging files on all drives. However it is always recommended that you don’t disable or delete the paging file.

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Configure virtual memory or page file size(pagefile.sys) in windows vista/xp to improve performance.