Solved pagefile issue

My Pagefile ,virtual memory increased all of a sudden on it's own to the size of my RAM 16GB

Originally was set as total paging file size for all drives

Minimum allowed: 16 MB

Recommended : 5627 MB

Currently allocated: 2432MB


I do not want to disable pagefile, if tried a custom size as initial size : 2432 MB and Maximum size :2432 MB
of course i regain the space on drive. As you can see from the image the increase.

Is this the best way to get it back, will it ever go back, most suggest not to mess with it and let windows manage it ?

Question when you set the sizes initial and maximum should they be same size or what else can i choose by seeing image ?
Why so low on the minimum originally 16MB ? Not familiar with this at all, changing it.

What I see in your images is that the minimum is 16MB, that's MegaBytes, it's what Windows needs. The Recommended at 5627MB is approximately 5.6GB/GigaBytes. I haven't an explanation why it is showing 16GB as the Currently allocated size but does it still do it after rebooting? If it does it again after rebooting it might be best to use the Custom size and set the max and min as the same. Help and Support used to recommend 1.5 times the physical RAM and lots of folks have discussed the pros and cons, however it has worked for me through several years. Earlier versions of Windows had a recommendation of 2.5 times the RAM.

Yes i have rebooted several times same thing. Well 1.5 of 16 is 24, mean 2.4 GB or 24GB or like i once had it 2.4GB = 2432MB ?
Now you say the same for initial and maximum, i would use 2432MB for both ? Or should i use initial at 2432MB and maximum 5627MB like recommended on my image ?

If i cleared my pagefile.sys changed it to above rebooted, then if i ever went back to letting windows manage it, i wonder if it would go back to way it was. Saw how to clear the pagefile through local security policy.

Clear virtual memory pagefile at Windows-8 Shutdown (8.1, seven)

I as said already tried custom setting it, it worked, but when i went back, it went back to the same 16GB currently allocated.
Why though clearing pagefile.sys may help.

I may wait a couple of days to see if it changes before doing it, plus if i receive more answers here. TY

To try getting around the allocated size I'd set Custom size to both the same number, anything you want but you might start with the 5GB number as the Max and Min. The number used may not be important depending upon what you do but try it, can always change it.

Let me get this straight on custom set the initial and maximum will change the total page filing on all drives the bottom numbers from my image in first post , to recommended: 5.6GB and Currently allocated : 5.6GB if i use the 5627MB in both initial and maximum ? It should because that was way it showed before with 2432MB as currently allocated and 5627MB as recommended. Question is does the minimum stay the same the 16MB where does that come in on custom settings or is it some kind of default for Windows. That part confused me.

The 16MB is telling you that is the minimum size Windows will allow. Setting a Custom size ignores that.

What could of possibly caused this it seems, after running Crystal Disk mark benchmarking drive it happened after i noticed.
Restore point did not change it back. Though i read some kind of registry script or something possibly went in, could do it.

In the past when RAM in your system is in the range of 512K ~ 1GB then there was a need to have a pagefile.sys in case you open to many apps and filled up all the available memory then Windows will use pagefile.sys to manage & swap out what currently unused in memory to disk using pagefile.sys to make RAM available for loading the next application.

Now that your PC RAM is in the range of 8GB ~ 32GB, It becomes uneccessay to even have the pagefile.sys since you will never use up all the available memory and if you do, your PC will be down on its knees anyway.

However, there is one case that the pagefile.sys get used is when you have a BSOD, your PC crashes then Windows will use the pagefile.sys to produce the dump file for analysis.

I have the same amount of RAM like yours. 16GB is plenty and I doubt that Windows will even use the pagefile.sys but I custom set it to Initial size = 1023 and Maximum size = 1024. Also look at the task manager, it only use about 15% of total RAM as shown in the screen shot:

I am starting to understand most of stuff about pagefile. Question now is how it got that way up to 16GB currently allocated. I know i can custom set it, but never had to. Was fine till now. I do run some programs like Microsoft Office 2013 and paint program, be concerned of those from what i heard about low pagefiling. Oh, if you had noticed i do have a SSD which most will adjust pagefile or even disable it. Just wondering what changed it all of a sudden, if i can at least figure out that answer and not something else going to happen, i am fine with a custom setting.

I have no explanation of why it changes. It never happened to me before. To clarify what I am saying, every programs get loaded into RAM before running, and I have all the MS Office programs + Adobe Audition + Adobe Photoshop + Power Director Video Editing and look at the amount of RAM they occupy. MS Office programs will use extra RAM to load the data files of course and occasionally, they auto save your work to the disk. These programs are small and for all that get loaded into RAM, it only takes 20% of total amount of RAM.

BTW, I also have SSD in my PC.

Topgundcp and Berton thanks for your help and explanations. I to have not a clue how it changed either. I see your point Topgundcp on RAM usage. Guess i either do the custom pagefile or decide a Win8.1 refresh, but hate to have to put all my stuff back on again and it might come back.
Just wonder if that Crystal Disk Mark program did it. Knew i should not have tried it, just for a benchmark that sometimes does not mean much, thought i heard some bad things about it too.

For what it's worth, I have mine set to Auto & never use it all.
Also, I have about 88% free space.





You got lots of free space ?

I have the space 43GB out of 476GB used on the SSD (because of pagefile now, or would be less ), that is not the concern, even though most will say not to even use pagefile with a SSD, but that is not what i want to do.

Yes, Why is mine 16GB i do not know either. Took the whole amount of RAM. That is the question.....William Shakespeare
To be or not to be...... Well i want it not to be............. this way

I guess i research more, use the custom set or refresh and see if that helps. ty

Guys thank you for your help!! I came up empty on my research of why my pagefile suddenly jumped to the max equal to my RAM.
Rather then just custom set my pagefile i felt something caused this and this bothered me that something else may come up.

So i decided to redo install of Windows 8.1 Pro and all is back to normal with managed pagefile. If it comes back for any reason then i will custom manage it, but then i will know it was not caused by some other program i used recently or i felt possible registry change maybe by Crystal Disk Mark which was used just before this happened. To coincidental. Yes i took long road, but little under few hours almost all back on, no rush, i make sure to check everything is working well first, plus all those Windows updates to put back on........glad i have fast internet.............Solved post. TY