Cant Enable PAE mode

I'm still stuck on the "why not just use x64" instead? Someone above stated that it would cost money to switch, which is untrue. It would be free to switch, as long as you had the x64 media.

As for PAE, Microsoft disables it for a reason, and a very good one. No matter how many times someone will try to say otherwise or push the issue, it should not be considered or used on a desktop system. Simple as that. As mentioned, it can and likely will lead to instability. If you want to use 4 GB or more of memory, do it the right way.

Not really. In the past, it would cost $10 or so for shipping, but there are plenty of other methods of getting one, including legal (Microsoft) download sites that have links for just the .iso files. These links have been posted in the past and the mods removed them. There's been debate about that, considering there is no licensing info contained in them, and they are hosted by Microsoft, and given out in Microsoft blogs, but I digress.

Point is, it doesn't cost any money, and there's no reason not to have both platforms at the ready.

yowanvista said:

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.

yowanvista said:

pallesenw said:

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.

Always good to learn somthing new +1

Thanks.

As for the "missing" 515MB of memory, I agree get a 64-bit OS, or forget it. FYI - With regards to video cards and 4gig memory on a 32-bit OS - Wheres my memory gone? - Page 2 - Vista Forums

Install a ramdisk. Then you can use it with support of the kernel.

yowanvista said:

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.

Better driver signing requirements would have solved that over 10 years ago. It's not an excuse. Microsoft provide the DDK/WDK. They could have included the tools to support PAE compliance.

I've also seen benchmarks that show that PAE doesn't give a significant performance hit contrary to MS's performance penalty claims (and I've personally used a PAE enabled kernel on Vista x86 as well and did not notice any tangible performance penalty in day to day operation).

Using Win7 x64 now as that is the way forward. Sooner or later the 2-3GB process limit will become a factor. Surprised it isn't already being used for games - maybe it is and haven't noticed.

DeaconFrost said:

As for PAE, Microsoft disables it for a reason, and a very good one. No matter how many times someone will try to say otherwise or push the issue, it should not be considered or used on a desktop system. Simple as that. As mentioned, it can and likely will lead to instability. If you want to use 4 GB or more of memory, do it the right way.

Creative sound drivers were all that stopped me from using it permanently on my HTPC. Apart from that, nvidia drivers, lan etc were all fine. Probably could have used on-board sound without issue.