Zero size Page File Warning

[Javic]

I've recently set my page file size to zero because I have 1GB of RAM and really don't think I need it. Sort of an experiment. The thing is, everytime I log in after a reboot, I get a pop-up from Win2k saying that I have no page file and I need to set it.

Now for my question. Does anyone know a way to disable this pop-up? Its not really a big deal, but its annoying. I figure there's got to be a registry setting or something that disables it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
-Javic

 

[Teq]

Make a tiny pagefile... I believe the minimum is 16megs, set the minimum and maximum to the same size, then forget about it.

<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

 

[Javic]

I thought about that, but then it would still swap. I'm trying to avoid any swapping to disk at all. I've got a few guru's at work that I can ask too, but figured I'd give this vast wealth of knowledge a try too

 

[Teq]

You cannot totally disable the swap file in win2000, you can in XP. But, it won't swap much in 8megs, you can be sure of that.

If you are concerned about it swapping out drivers and core components (which does slow the system) you can stop that with a registry edit...

Fire up regedit and path into to:

HKEY_local machine/system/currentcontrolset/control/session manager/memory management

Edit the dword value "DisablePagingExecutive" and set it's value to 1.

Close regedit

Click... Start/Shutdown/Restart to activate the change.

It still wants a swap file, but now it won't swap out anything that's either a boot or system level component.



<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

 

[Javic]

Ahhh yes!! Thank you!! I have been trying to remember that reg hack for about a week! I read it in a mag about a month back and couldn't remember which one.

I was running the system for about 2 hours last night with 0 page file and everything was working very nicely. I only got one pop-up after that 2 hours saying "system is low on virtual memory"... yeah, I know, I set it that way! Stupid Microsoft. Maybe I'll write Billy and tell him to fix this problem in SP4

I'm actually curious as to how often I'll get that "System out of virtual memory" message once I start really using it. I just reinstalled the machine so it hasn't been used for much more than basic surfing. I might have to hunt around for a setting to disable that check as well.

Thanks for your help Teq.

 

[Teq]

as far as I know win2000 will rebell constantly against not having a pagefile. They did fix this in XP and they may fix it in SP4... I don't know for sure.

I've never found a way to turn off that warning, and I've looked! Like I said, just give it the absolute minimum pagefile and forget about it.

In the same memory management area of the registry you can also set PagedPoolQuota and PagedPoolSize to 0 which may help somewhat.

Other than that, well, it is what it is...


<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

 

[Javic]

I actually paid a bit closer attention to it last night, and even though I set it to zero size, Win2K actually sets it to a default of 20MB!! What a pain in the ass.

I think my next attempt will be to find a RAMDrive that works in Win2k and give that a shot. Even if I have to reset it each time I reboot, it might be worth it, since I don't reboot this machine very often at all.

Next question... Anyone know of a RAMDrive program that works with W2K and where I can get a copy?

-Jav

 

[Teq]

Try here: <A HREF="http://www.ntware.com/" target="_new">http://www.ntware.com/</A>

Lots of stuff for win2k.


<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

 

[Javic]

Ok I did a search on download.com and found <A HREF="http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm" target="_new">RamDiskNT</A>, which has a 100 use trial period, after which it limits your drive size to 1.44MB. Not very useful after that, but good enough for my test. Registration is $49.

I set it up and its working great. It even has an option to specify that the RAM drive will be used as a pagefile.

Now I'll just run it for a few days, see if I encounter any problems before I determine if its worth the $49.

 

[Teq]

Ok... would you rather give up 50 bucks and 16 megs of ram or 16 megs of hard disk space?

Really... why not just set up a minimum size pagefile and forget about it?



<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>