Is there way to enable more than 4 GB RAM in 32-bit Windows OS?

"You can use PAE, but it's not nearly as good as just going 64 bit. Check this MSDN Page.

Enabling PAE

Windows automatically enables PAE if DEP is enabled on a computer that supports hardware-enabled DEP, or if the computer is configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB. If the computer does not support hardware-enabled DEP or is not configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB, PAE must be explicitly enabled.

To explicitly enable PAE, use the following BCDEdit /set command to set the pae boot entry option:

bcdedit /set [{ID}] pae ForceEnable


IF DEP is enabled, PAE cannot be disabled. Use the following BCDEdit /set commands to disable both DEP and PAE:

bcdedit /set [{ID}] nx AlwaysOff
bcdedit /set [{ID}] pae ForceDisable


Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: To enable PAE, use the /PAE switch in the boot.ini file. To disable PAE, use the /NOPAE switch. To disable DEP, use the /EXECUTE switch."

"Recently, a group of programmers have released a kernel patch for Windows 7 to allow the usage of more than 4 GB of RAM under Windows 7. Click here to download the patch, or view more information about it. The patch basically modifies the Windows 7 kernel to be more like the Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, which is compatible with up to 8 GB of RAM under 32-bit mode.

The patch allows you to extend the PAE well into 8 GB of RAM under Windows 7 32-bit. For more information about why Microsoft implemented this technical limitation, see this article.

Note that individual processes will still be limited to 4 GB even if the system can access more... Although if you had 8 GB of RAM, then at least you'd still have another 4 GB for other processes ;)"

"Someone told me that MS Windows 7 32-bit doesn't support RAM larger than
3 GB.

Someone is wrong. 32-bit Windows desktop operating systems support up to 4 GB of physical memory. However, due to the hardware limitations of the x86 architecture, only 3.5~ GB are available for the OS if 4 GB are installed."

"Just curious, can you give some examples of programs that don't work on 64-bit windows? 64-bit Windows since Windows XP has excellent backwards compatibility with 32-bit programs. Check the 5th question on this page: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions. Take Microsoft Office for example, it's all 32-bit, but runs great on 64-bit Windows.

The only time you wouldn't want to move to 64-bit is if you have hardware that doesn't have 64-bit drivers. Hardware drivers must match the OS platform."

"This patch works or so it seems.

Before the patch I could use 3gb out of 4gb, and now all 4gb is accessible.

Here's the patch:

http://www.pallab.net/2009/12/30/enable-more-than-4gb-memory-in-windows-vista-7/

Here's the screenshot (Windows 7 Ultimate Hungarian):"