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Windows XP didn't use all your memory. It was a display quirk in Windows XP.
Use a 64bit edition instead. If you have a license already you can use it for the 64bit edition as well.
Windows XP didn't use all your memory. It was a display quirk in Windows XP.
Use a 64bit edition instead. If you have a license already you can use it for the 64bit edition as well.
true, Linux does have insanely high memory limits. SUSE is a pretty good distro. I used mint for two years without a hitch, but I've had four Ubuntu installs that failed critically (eg. one stopped booting as it claimed the HDD didn't exist after just reading from it. I promptly reintsalled Windows 7 on it, apparently the HDD existed again )
32-bit server editions of windows can actually use up to 128GB (Win2k3 x86 Datacenter edition) so technically 32-bit Windows CAN use more than 4GB of memory (as implied by pallesenw).
Memory Limit – Windows Server 2003 | SQL Server Training
Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
The reason it is not supported in end-user versions of the 32-bit operating systems is mainly due to drivers from my understanding. Poor nvidia and creative drivers back in the day.
Last edited by SamCPP; 19 Apr 2011 at 05:50. Reason: As per pallesenw's info...
On consumer versions of Windows, PAE not used for memory. DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and a couple other tricks, yes. But not for memory.
The way it works for Memory is it allows an added table the OS can use to add the “same” address in more than one place. Think of this as adding a "street name" to your "address". 1234567890 on table A is not the same as 1234567890 on table B. The limitation is that this *must* be provided for in your programs and drivers in order to work. If your mailman only looks at the '1234567890' but never looks at the street name, then he can and will sometimes deliver a letter to the wrong place. The same thing is true of PAE - If/when then individual program haven’t been coded to look in multiple tables for the needed memory locations in addition to the numerical addresses, messages can and will often go to the wrong place. In Windows, this is a called a “memory access violation”, and results in a blue screen. Additionally, individual programs under PAE can still only use up to 4 GB. Kernels and drivers can be made aware of PAE, but they can still only use 4 GB ranges at a time.
In short: PAE is not that great. In a server environment the number/version/type of programs and drivers can be tightly controlled, so this works and so this functionality is available on server versions of 32 bit Windows (NT, 2003, 2006, etc). In a consumer environment, this is not true at all.
Bottom line for ‘regular’ users: If you want to use 4 GB of RAM or more, then you should buy 64-bit hardware and use a 64-bit OS.
Well, technically the above post is not very accurate. Memory is virtualized no matter what mode you are running in, so every application has the same addresses.
PAE adds some addressing bits to the physical address.
Physical Address Extension (Windows)
PAE is not recommended for home/casual users, because of potential driver issues.
I know about the reasons Microsoft give.
Just to make an edit: PAE is recommended, because DEP depends on it. Addresses above 4G are just not made to use.
Last edited by pallesenw; 19 Apr 2011 at 07:02.