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How can I enable PAE on Windows 7 (32-bit) to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM?

How can I enable PAE on Windows 7 (32-bit) to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM?

I know that Windows XP 32-bit can be configured, through PAE, to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM. Is there a good tutorial to do this with Windows 7 32-bit?

Asked by: Guest | Views: 418
Total answers/comments: 4
Guest [Entry]

"PAE should be enabled by default - Windows already uses it internally for the DEP/No-Execute feature.

But these instructions might help if Windows is doing its thing again.

Note that individual processes will still be limited to 4 GB even if the system can access more."
Guest [Entry]

"Windows 7 32 has PAE disallowing access past the 4 GB mark. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx for details.

For people out there who insist on 64 bit usage - there are some things that would not work in 64 bit environments that could benefit a performance gain from a ram disk that COULD access past the 3.25 mark in a 32 bit environment - specifically applications that page often. You could also put the page file within said ramdisk. In addtion, a VM is great, however emulation never really works as great as the real thing -- it all really depends on the application and the way it is implemented. There are still many hardware devices that will not work in a 64 bit world, and need the real time access to make them work well (while there are accelerators that help with real time access, it can still present problems.)

So, while 64 bit is technically superior, 32 bit is a legacy that will take a while go away, and there will be plenty of reason why people would like to access memory through PAE.

PS: There is a reply to this post stating that putting a page file on RAM disk makes no sense. Let me explain. If the system has 4GB RAM and you make a 2GB RAM disk and put the page file there, then yes, this configuration makes no sense. However, if the system has 8GB RAM and you make a 4GB RAM disk (accessing the extra memory that 32 bit Windows can not reach) and put the page file (and temp folder, and turn on ""ReadyBoost"" and add any other frequently used files) on there, then yes, the speed up is very considerable. And ""yes"" is the answer, you can get software that allows you to create RAM disks above the 4GB limit on 32bit systems."
Guest [Entry]

"DO NOT USE THE PATCH, its simply a german test version of windows, and will muck up youre boot record.

I have just spent an hour downloading easybcd on another machine to fix this.

Be warned!"
Guest [Entry]

"The question is “How can I enable PAE on Windows 7 (32-bit) to support more than 3.5 GB of RAM” and the answer is type the command prompt “bcdedit /set [{ID}] pae ForceEnable”.

But, probably the question is worthy to be rephrased how to enable and be able to use more than 3.5 (or 3.25) GB of RAM on W7 32 bits system.

I tried PAE in 2 different Desktop mainboards with identical systems: Intel® Desktop Board D945GNT with a Intel® Pentium® D Processor 3.4GHZ and 3.00GB usable Ram, and Intel® Desktop Board DG41WV with Intel® E7500 2.93GHZ and 3.25GB usable Ram. Both 64 bits capable and 4GB Ram.

The 2 systems enabled PAE; then, using the procedure indicated in http://www.jensscheffler.de/using-gavotte-ramdisk-in-windows-7 I installed Gavotte Ram disk and recovered 16MB Ram (nothing) on the first system, but recovered the entire 775MB unused for the second one.

So, in the Ram disk of the second system, I assigned a movable pagesys file to it, from 16MB to 700MB, and a movable pagesys of 16MB to 3300MB on a partition of a different physical disk of the system.

I proved 2 facts:
1. The systems preferred the Ram swap file over the one in the hard disk. I saw it moving, growing and shrinking.
2. Benchmark with PC Pitstop (image attached in http://www.pablomolina.net/bench700.png) shows great improvement in system disk speed, and the system runs quite faster. In the bench I compared a 700 MB page file in the Ram disk with a 700MB page file in another partition of the same system drive.!

You need to set the system to clean page file at shutdown with Microsoft kb/314834 procedure.

For me, PAE makes sense on a 32 bit system, and works. I won´t go for the 64 bits system as I use Windows professionally and accumulated 450 programs over years, which will take me months to reinstall."