Cannot stop pagefile.sys?????

  • Thread starter Thread starter J
  • Start date Start date
J

J

Sunday eve

Win XP pro, all updates, office 2003 all updates, ESET AV

This has not happened before.

I am attempting to delete the pagefile.sys before defragmenting.

Two computers, each with one user, set as administrator.

I have repeatedly set the pagefile to none for all drives.

Using the users and the administrators accounts.

After reboot the setting is still at no page file, but windows indicates one
exists. And I cannot delete the file.

I have tried safe mode.

I have increased the size of the recommended amount. Works fine.

For one computer, I set the drive to auto for the D: drive and none for the
C: drive and after boot the C: file is gone and the D: exists. I set the D:
drive to none and the file is once again on the C:

I am annoyed now. This is stupid.

Has some recent MS update made this happen?


J
 
J said:
Sunday eve

Win XP pro, all updates, office 2003 all updates, ESET AV

This has not happened before.

I am attempting to delete the pagefile.sys before defragmenting.

Two computers, each with one user, set as administrator.

I have repeatedly set the pagefile to none for all drives.

Using the users and the administrators accounts.

After reboot the setting is still at no page file, but windows indicates
one exists. And I cannot delete the file.

I have tried safe mode.

I have increased the size of the recommended amount. Works fine.

For one computer, I set the drive to auto for the D: drive and none for
the C: drive and after boot the C: file is gone and the D: exists. I set
the D: drive to none and the file is once again on the C:

I am annoyed now. This is stupid.

Has some recent MS update made this happen?


J
Click to expand...

If the aim of this is to get a defragmented pagefile this may be of use to
you:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/pagedefrag.mspx

Ed Metcalfe.
 
Thank you for the line.

My insterest is to defrag the drive with out the pagefile's and the
hibernate file's bits scattered about.

And then the pagefile is contiguous and feeling fresh.
 
J said:
Thank you for the line.

My insterest is to defrag the drive with out the pagefile's and the
hibernate file's bits scattered about.

And then the pagefile is contiguous and feeling fresh.
Click to expand...
But it can easily get internally fragmented, and you will not be able to
tell.
Jim
 
Jim said:
But it can easily get internally fragmented, and you will not be able to
tell.
Click to expand...

'Tis true. And I will now use the Sysinternals tools regularly.

Yet, I am still confused as to why I cannot stop the swap.
 
If you have free disk space less than 60% of the operating system
partition it becomes difficult to achieve a contiguous pagefile. If you
have less than 40% used disk space you can get a contiguous pagefile by
setting a zero pagefile, running Disk CleanUp and Disk Defragmenter,
restarting the computer and setting the minimum pagefile size to what
you would want as a maximum. This doesn't work where you have more than
about 40% used disk space (excluding the pagefile) as the process of
restarting the computer moves system files into the area you want the
pagefile, before the pagefile takes possession.

You should probably check that you are following the correct procedure
for setting a zero pagefile. It is to check Zero, click Set, click Apply
and OK. Restart the computer.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
J said:
'Tis true. And I will now use the Sysinternals tools regularly.

Yet, I am still confused as to why I cannot stop the swap.
Click to expand...
Isn't it correct that you can only delete a pagefile in Safe Mode? In
normal mode, the pagefile is always open. Windows will not delete open
files.
Jim
 
Thank you for your reply.

The problem is as described in my initial post: I cannot set the pagefile to
0.

And after reboot, even though the system dialog indicates it is set to none,
the current pagefile is as stated in a previous post.
 
Thank you for your response.

To delete the pagefile:
Open System
click advanced | performance | settings | advanced | change
click "no paging file"
click set
click OK,,,,

Restart computer

If the file still exists, it is supposed to be no longer used, and
therefore deletable.

In this case, for both computers, the computers indicate no paging file,
and the current size is 589, and 767 meg.

And the files are not deletable.

J
 
J

Did you actually retry setting the pagefile on C to Zero. Place the
cursor on the C drive in the box check Zero, click Set, click Apply and
OK. Restart the computer.

There is no need to delete the pagefile. It is just automatically
removed from the root of C.

If it still doesn't change then it could be something is preventing the
change to the Registry. Norton is notorious for preventing registry
changes unless the feature is turned. Zone Alarm is also known to create
the same sort of problem and there are others. Normally the complaint is
that the user cannot restore to an earlier date using System Restore.
Changes to the paging file is a registry change. The need to restart the
computer is that the change needs to be made when pagefile.sys is not in
use.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Thank you for your response.

Gerry said:
J

Did you actually retry setting the pagefile on C to Zero. Place the cursor
on the C drive in the box check Zero
Click to expand...

No Zero option. Only "No Page File" which is selected.

Windows will not recognize a number smaller than the recommended size to be
used in the min/max boxes.

At the bottom of the screen: Currently Allocated is 576, and 787 for the two
computers.

I have repeated tried combinations of users, safe mode, no page file and
setting sizes.

The "No Page File" option is not being recognized.

No Norton, Zone alarm,...

What registry key can I edit manually?

J
 
might have some luck
if you install the hd from
comp 1 as a slave on comp2

then from comp2 you might
be able to delete the file and
defrag it as well.....



--

db ·´¯`·.¸. said:
<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
Click to expand...


..
 
J

You are correct. You should select No Page file and not enter a Zero as
I indicated earlier.

The numbers at the bottom of the page for Minimum Allowed, Recommended
and Currently Allocated do not change until you have rebooted. They
apply to all drives. Only the Currently Allocated figure should change.
However, if you have 576 on C and Nil on D and change it to Nil on C and
576 on D the Currently Allocated figure will not change.

Have you looked at the sizes of the pagefiles in Windows Explorer. The
files are named pagefile.sys and are located in the root of C and of D.
These are hidden files.

Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings and
verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is checked
and "Hide protected operating system files " is unchecked. You may need
to scroll down to see the second item. You should also make certain that
the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is not checked.
Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected and then
select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total Size, and
Free Space.

The location of one of several of the pagefile settings is here but I
strongly advise against tinkering with the Registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
That sounds like one of your more stupid ideas! Do you understand why
you cannot delete a pagefile?


~~~~


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
I tested (I have XP home) I set virtual memory to none and pagefile was
deleted. I set page file to system control and pagefile was reinstalled.
Works OK in Windows Home. Suspect one of your virus programs is affecting
it.
 
Thank you for your response.

The AV program is ESET's NOD32. I figger making changes in SM should not be
affected by progs not loaded in SM.

And NOD does not have any settings I can find that should affect this.
if you have 576 on C and Nil on D and change it to Nil on C and 576 on D
the Currently Allocated figure will not change.
Click to expand...

'Tis true. But then if I attempt to set the PF to none on D:, it is again
created on C:.

This is stupid. It is not happening on the 3rd XP comp. First time for me.

I get paid for computer support for about 20 local orgs and people. Been
doing this for 15 years.

Everyday something new and rediculous.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management
Click to expand...

What do I change to stop all pagefiles?

J
 
Wednesday Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management
Click to expand...

I deleted the values in the pagefile size key. This fixed one computer, but
not the other.

Both were set to 0,0.

This is very strange, but true.

J
 
J

Did you look at the sizes of the pagefiles in Windows Explorer before
deleting? The files are named pagefile.sys and are located in the root
of C and of D. These are hidden files.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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