Why doesn't Windows 2000 retain my pagefile settings?

A. When you change your pagefile settings in Win2K, sometimes they aren't restored (this happened to me today!). The correct way to set the pagefile size is to use Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance Options, Change. Select the drive whose settings you want to modify, and enter values in the Initial Size and Maximum Size boxes. Click Set, then click OK three times.

To avoid pagefile fragmentation as a page grows, you should set the Initial Size and Maximum Size values to the same value. A minimum value of your RAM x 1.5 is recommended. If you don't set these values to the same value, as a page grows and shrinks, it becomes scattered all over the hard disk.

Even when you set the values properly, some systems don't retain your settings. If this happens, perform the following steps:

1. Start regedt32.exe (not regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ControlSession Manager\Memory Management
3. Double-click PagingFiles. The entry will appear as
   D:\pagefile.sys 700 700

   The first value is the location; the second is the minimum size; and the third is the maximum size.

4. Ensure the values are correct and click OK.
5. Reboot the machine.

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