Solved Set the Registry Size Limit to "unlimited"

[miche]

Hi folks,
I've got a question:

I found this thread
Turn Windows features on or off - empty list - Vista Forums
because I was experiencing the same problem (Turn Windows features on or off - empty list and not able to download updates anymore) and I applied the hack on my Toshiba.

Resolution -

1) If you are receiving the "Low Registry Space" error, set the Registry Size Limit to "unlimited":

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
Key: RegistrySizeLimit
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0xffffff (4294967295)


2) Reboot

3) As a Administrator open a Command Prompt and run "SFC /SCANNOW". The command should complete successfully and if any errors were found, they should be corrected.

This was posted on the ESRI forums, from someone who noticed that Visual Studio 2008 was related to the error. Personally I'm not sure if it was VS, or just installing the .net framework. Here's the link for more chatter on the topic... http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=1148&t=287391

Thing is that that Toshiba died after 2 weeks ...the motherboard decided not to function anymore and now I'm wondering if that hack might have been the cause.

What does setting to unlimited the registry size really mean?
How does it affect the system?
Can it burn something that is not supposed to be burnt?

I installed win 7 pro on my main machine now and I'm experiencing the same problem.

Should I do it again?
The toshiba was a 3-year old machine so, maybe it was just "its time to go" nothing to do with this hack.

Any hints on this one?

Thanks,
m

 

[logicearth]

There is no RegistrySizeLimit in Windows XP and greater.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292726/

 

[miche]

There is no RegistrySizeLimit in Windows XP and greater.
Registry Size Limit functionality has been removed from Windows Server 2003 and from Windows XP

Thanks for replying logicearth but it didn't really help
I'd read that article before and honestly it confused me even more.

So, if there's no RegistrySizeLimit anymore, why did I have to set it to unlimited to have the system properly working again?
Why people over the web have been experiencing the same problem and the only way to solve it was that hack?

I don't understand....can you be more specific? What am I really changing when I do that? (cause I did it and it worked...no other solution worked) and how is my sys affected by it? (keeping in mind that my only concern now is not to burn another - my last - machine...I couldn't stand it)

Cheers,
m

 

[fseal]

I have nothing to add about the registry size limit. But I thought I would chime in that I do know that Visual Studio (prety much all versions) really clog the registry. The main culprit is that the default install path is huge and it is put in the registry hundreds of times on a full install.

Therefore I always install my MS dev tools, MSDN etc in a shortened path. Namely something like "C:\DevTools\VS8" instead of the default "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8" and it seems to help.

 

[logicearth]

You rebooted correct? Then installed Visual Studio right after that? It was not the registry value because it is not used at all. It was the reboot.

In Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and in Microsoft Windows XP, the Registry Size Limit (RSL) functionality has been removed. Therefore, there are no longer any limits on the total amount of space that may be consumed by registry data (hives) in paged pool memory, and in disk space.

 

[premiumthought]

Yes it helps

I can confirm that the changing the registry size in Windows 7 to unlimited DOES WORK.

I had an issue where several computers, with a clean install of Windows 7, had repeated windows update failures as well as Visual C++ Redistributable install failures (both 2005 and 2008).

This one change in the registry, of increasing the size of the registry, took care of both issues.

Thanks for the solution.

 

[logicearth]

I can confirm that the changing the registry size in Windows 7 to unlimited DOES WORK.

IT DOES NOT WORK, because it is not USED. PERIOD.
The Registry key has NO effect.

This setting only applies to Windows 2000, NOT to Windows XP and above.

 

[SIW2]

Are you sure?

Weird error 1935 message in Windows 7, Solution is RegistrySizeLimit registry entry! | Edwin Friesen - Application & Desktop Delivery

Edwin Friesen / vExpert
Senior Solution Consultant & Trainer at Ictivity B.V.

It is not clear to me why this setting is back within Windows 7

I think this is the issue :

From Vista on the RegistrySizeLimit (rsl) has allegedly been deprecated. However there seem to be some installer components which result in an O/S request for dynamic resize of the sysvol pagefile leading to the creation of the RegistrySizeLimit. If it is present and is not set to the 0xffffffff value--it has probably been generated during an automated pagefile resize operation.

I could be wrong - this is not an area I am that familiar with.

Therefore, I am cautious about making very definitive statements.

 

[logicearth]

Are you sure?

Yes, I am sure. This Registry key does nothing in Windows 7.
The functionality was removed a long long time ago.

This key was in Windows 2000 because the Registry was limited to a set size, a maximum size.
In Windows XP and 2003 Microsoft removed this limitation. Making the above key obsolete.

Further more, you would be surprised how often "rebooting" tends to fix these installation errors.

 

[SIW2]

LOL, I just expanded my post -you might have missed that last bit.

 

[sreedhav]

Dear miche,
QUOTE" In Microsoft Windows XP, the Registry Size Limit (RSL) functionality has been removed. Therefore, there are no longer any limits on the total amount of space that may be consumed by registry data (hives) in paged pool memory, and in disk space. However, there is a limit for the system hive which is a permanent part of the registry associated with a set of files that contains information related to the configuration of the computer on which the operating system is installed. configured items include applications,user preferences,devices and so on. So you have to remove unused settings from the system hive"(underlining is mine as also the bold type for emphasis)UNQUOTE

Source : Low on registry space

This quote comes from a MSFT in the above MS forum

The forum nicely dovetails onto an MS article which i found particularly interesting as it's crux seems to emphasize on reducing the entries from the system hive and the article is : The System hive memory limitation is improved in Windows Server 2003

I can understand the gravity of the situation as your second pc's life is in peril! I request you read the discussion in my first link and then the MS article and i also wish to tell you not to lose hope at any cost!

I have a gut feeling that there are too many a programs or enough number of big programs to give you this kind of pain!

Regards,
Sreedhav

 

[premiumthought]

Just stating my experience

I'm not a tech guru nor do I claim to know the internals of Windows registry. I'm only stating my experience so that someone else having the same issue might benefit from it.

I was having one hell of a time trying to install EndNote and Matlab and they both kept trying to install a prerequisite called 'Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable'. Installation would get to a certain point and then it would seem to freeze and then timeout in 4-5 minutes with the following error message:

ERROR:Error 1935.An error occurred during the installation of assembly 'Microsoft.VC80.ATL,type="win32",version="8.0.50727.42",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",processorArchitecture="amd64"'. Please refer to Help and Support for more information. HRESULT: 0x800736B3.
[11/15/07,18:09:55] Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition - ENU: [2] ACTION FAILURE:Action ended

(This is not the exact error, I found a similar one for reference. The exact error had to do with the redistributable not the full version of Visual Studio)

I tried various tricks that have worked before in situations like this (including rebooting several times) but nothing worked. I had given up when I accidentally stumbled upon this one discussion on ESRI support forums where someone had mentioned changing the value of RegistrySizeLimit to ffffffff and rebooting.

I did exactly that and viola. All computers (six new Windows 7 installations) started working again. Windows updates were failing as well before and this fixed that problem too. Visual C++ 2005 redistributable installed just fine and so did 2008 redistributable.

Nothing else was changed in those computers. So draw your own conclusions. I'm just happy it worked and I can finally get paid

 

[sreedhav]

Dear miche,
I know you are looking for solutions! Here we may be looking at some light at the end of a longish tunnel.

If you have read the article in the first link in my post, there was a mention of a UPHC i.e, User Profile Hive Clean. I am providing a link to an MS article from where you may download the small app. and put it to good use! Though it mentions XP, it works for win.7 too! Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

Best wishes,
Sreedhav

 

[GeneO]

You know bugs do creep into software - sometimes old code is accidentally reintroduced. Even in Windows :sarc:

I looked around the Microsoft forums and there were quite a number of people whose installs of various software failed on Windows 7 and this registry hack appears to have fixed it. Perhaps there is n actual limit but a module still checks to see if there is enough room in the registry and assume a default if there is no value in the registry and fails with "not enough resources" or whatever. It could be a bad version of some library or the installation software.

Some of the threads have a common: hack registry, reboot, run sfc. sfc might be it, but from what I read, it sounded like the registry hack fixed it

 

[soho1]

<taunt>
These threads are sometimes amusing.

Sidebar: "Lucy" was thought to be the oldest human, having lived about 3 million years ago. Later, human remains dated to about 4.5 million years ago were discovered. More recently, French and Kenyan scientists have discovered human remains that they believe are about 6 million years old. Note however that after about 6 MILLION years of evolution, religion and science, humans "discovered" air about 200 years ago. Brilliant!

Whether we discuss the position of electrons, cause and effect, or trace computer logic, version control and deployment methodologies, my own preference is generally not to speak in terms of absolutes such as "always" and "never". Besides, it makes for more colorful adjectives in the thought stream.
</taunt>

 

[miche]

Wow guys...good to have you back ...I had honestly completely forgotten about it! (1 year and 1/2!...is that issue still around?!)

Thanks Sreedhav for your concern and I actually read those articles though I didn't quite catch the point of the matter...are you saying that "I (my pc) am in danger?"...

After that fix I never had any trouble and my VAIO ran smoothly since then!

I actually just purchased a new one...another VAIO, (poor guy, the old one is still there but it is not taking any other sw upgrade...it got a bit slow :huh:!) and now I'm curious to see if it behaves the same way.

As soon as I'm done with the installation of all my sw I will let you know about it.
Thanks again.

m.

 

[miche]

Hey there...I've been using my new system for quite a while and everything is fine.
No need for the hack this time

Thanks again.

m

 

[mizpulyn]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
Key: RegistrySizeLimit
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0xffffff (4294967295)

Reboot

As a Administrator open a Command Prompt and run "SFC /SCANNOW". The command should complete successfully and if any errors were found, they should be corrected.

i registered on this web forum just to say - miche you are my HERO !! your trick absolutelly works !!

Yes its 7/2011 and the issue is still around !
I have fresh Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 with all updates on a brand new Intel i7-2600K and Autodesk Maya 2010 was throwing an error during installation:

Product: Maya 2010 (64-bit) -- Error 1935.An error occurred during the installation of assembly 'Microsoft.VC90.OpenMP,type="win32", processorArchitecture="amd64", publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b", version="9.0.30729.1"'. Please refer to Help and Support for more information. HRESULT: 0x8007041D. assembly interface: IAssemblyCacheItem, function: Commit, component: {6A4999AC-73A7-3777-9FBB-FC12EB68FCE8}

after googling the Error 1935 i found that tons of Autodesk users have the same problem with other products from Autodesk (AutoCAD, Inventor, Maya, etc.) with no solution anywhere...

this little trick of yours did the job - now the installation completed 100%

btw. i restarted billion times before applying this registry hack and NO restarting doesnt fix this problem...

cheers miche

 

[SteveFitz]

The Registry edit method did it for me!

Thanks to everyone (maybe not logicearth whom seems to owe an apology to the forum!) for putting up and discussing this fix for the empty "Turn Windows features on or off" window problem.
For several months I had been trying all the other "standard" methods suggested on other sites including Windows System File Checker (e.g. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html)
but nothing worked. Sfc could not be run while logged on to the computer and didn't find any problems when run offline.
I would come back to the problem every few weeks and try again. I posted on other forums (Microsoft) to no avail - very frustrating.
The reg edit fixed the problem.

The only thing I can add is that when I pasted 0xffffff into the key value it was immediately altered to something else (41ffffff) that was not correct (was not decimal 4294967295) after clicking OK. When I just pasted in ffffffff it worked.
Could be a trap for the unwary.

I can now install IIS!
Thanks
Steve

 

[miche]

MAN!..this is an endless one, innit?

..well mizpulyn, maybe the guy from that post I started this threat with should be your hero
I just looked for the solution on the web and quoted what I thought it was!

I'm glad you guys found a way out like me!
Thanks to everyone for your help!

Cheers,
m.