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JSI Tip 2174. The Windows 2000 Paging file.

In Windows 2000, the Pagefile defaults to RAM * 1.5, if RAM is less than 2 GB. If RAM is 2GB or more, the Pagefile defaults to 2GB.

If you require a larger Pagefile space, be aware that the largest Pagefile.sys is 4095MB.

You can create a Pagefile on every volume, so you can work around this limit.

If you don't have any extra volumes, you can create multiple pagefiles on a single volume,
by placing them in separate folders, such as c:\JSIPF1, C:\JSIPF2, ....., C:\JSIPFn.

To accomplish this:

1. Create the folders that you require.

2. Use Regedt32 to navigate to:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

3. Double-click the PagingFiles value name, a type REG_MULTI_SZ data type, in the right hand pane.

4. Replace the existing data value with:

      c:\JSIPF1\pagefile.sys 4000 4000
      c:\JSIPF2\pagefile.sys 0 4000
      c:\JSIPF3\pagefile.sys 0 4000

5. Press OK.

6. Exit the Registry editor and restart your computer.

This is the only place where I recommend that the Initial and Maximum PageFile sizes be different.

The first Pagefile space should have the Initial and Maximum values the same, to avoid fragmentation.

The 2nd - nth Pagefile extents can have a 0 Initial value, if you only need the space some of the time. When the space is needed, the system will allocate it, until then, no additional space is used.

NOTE: If possible, add more RAM.

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