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The Windows 7 paging file does not change. How to speed up Windows by correctly setting the paging file

The swap file is hidden file, located on a hard drive, which is used to store information from programs that do not fit into RAM. The operation of some software and the system as a whole depends on it. In Windows 7, the size of this file is equal to the size random access memory. For example, if the RAM is 2 GB, then the system will automatically set the automatic mode similar volume. To change it, you need to follow a few simple steps.

Changing the size of the paging file

Click “Start”, “Control Panel” and select “System and Security”.

From the listed sections, select “System”.

In the window that opens, click “ Extra options systems."

The System Properties window will open. Go to the “Advanced” tab. In the “Performance” section, click “Options”.

Here we go to the “Advanced” tab. In the “Virtual Memory” section, click “Change”.

Uncheck the box next to “Automatically select paging file size.”

Now select the drive on which the file will be located. We determine its volume. It is worth considering that both the initial and maximum must be the same. If, for example, the RAM is 3 GB, then both the initial and maximum should be set to 1024 GB. Click “Set” and “OK”.

To save the changes, the system will ask you to restart the PC. We agree and reboot the PC.

Some useful facts

Windows OS uses the page file quite actively, which loads the RAM. However, the page file itself is dynamic; it automatically changes size depending on system requirements. Its highest productivity occurs when it is static. IN in this case the PC user does not have to change its size. If the user has 2 or more hard drives, the swap file should be moved from the drive on which Windows is installed. If there is only one hard drive, it is recommended to create an additional partition of 2-4 GB and convert it to FAT32. Defragment and specify the file location in the appropriate partition.

Instructions

File swap can be increased through operating system utility applications Windows systems. Go to system folder"My Computer", click on any empty space right key mouse and select “Properties” from the context menu. The “System” window will open in front of you. In its left menu, click on the “Advanced system settings” link.

The screen will appear utility program for settings Windows properties. In the Performance section, click the Settings button. A new Performance Options window will open. In it, move to the “Advanced” tab. Here you will find the “Virtual Memory” section and a description file swap, as well as its volume. To set new volume, click the “Change...” button.

In the next service window “Virtual memory”, check the switch next to the line “Specify size", if another switch is installed - "Size according to system choice" or "Without file swap».

If you still want to limit the file size, then minimum size you can specify one and a half times more than the amount of RAM, and the maximum is the amount of RAM of the computer multiplied by three.

After setting the temporary storage settings, click the "Set" button to apply the changes, and be sure to restart the computer.

Video on the topic

note

Disabling swap can give a performance boost to computers that have a large amount of RAM (2GB and above). But some programs and games do not work without a page file, so disabling it does not make much sense. Also don't place multiple swaps on different partitions hard drive.

The paging file serves as an addition to the computer's RAM and allows you to use more of it than is physically installed in it. Part of the memory is located on the hard drive, allowing you to run applications that do not have enough physical RAM.

You will need

  • A computer with Windows XP, 7 or Vista installed.

Instructions

To optimize a file swap On a computer with Windows 7 or Vista installed, open Control Panel and go to the System and Security category. On the page that opens, go to the “System” section. Click on the “Advanced system settings” item, which is located in the left side window. In the “System Properties” window that appears, go to the “Advanced” tab, on which click the “Options” button located in the “Performance” section. The “Performance Options” window will appear on the screen, in which click the “Change” button located on the “Advanced” tab.

To optimize a file swap On computers with Windows XP installed, open Control Panel and go to the Performance and Maintenance category. On the category page that opens, click on the “System” icon. The “System Properties” window will appear on the screen, in which go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Options” button in the “Performance” section. In the window that opens, go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Change” button.

The “Virtual Memory” window will appear on the screen. This window allows you to set file parameters that are more optimal for your work. swap than the default settings that the operating system uses.

File swap located on a hard computer disk, the reading speed of which decreases from its beginning to its end. Therefore, to get maximum speed file work swap, place it, if possible, at the very first hard section disk. To do this, select all other sections from the list located in the upper half of the window, check the “Without file” checkbox for them swap" and click the "Set" button.

You can also change the file size swap, making it more optimal. By default, the Windows operating system itself chooses the file size swap. First, she sets its size to the smallest possible size in order to save as much as possible. free space on your hard drive. As soon as the size specified by the operating system becomes small, it automatically increases it. At this point, the computer may freeze for several seconds. If the size increases frequently enough, working with the computer becomes uncomfortable.

You can disable automatic change file size swap, immediately setting for him suitable size. To do this, select in the list the partition on which the file is located swap and check the “Specify size” checkbox. Specify the minimum file size in megabytes swap, which will not require its frequent increase while working in the “Original size” field. Also indicate maximum size, which the system can allocate for a file swap in the "Maximum size" field. It should be large enough to cover all your RAM needs.

If your computer is running operating system Windows XP and has enough to work with physical memory, you can significantly increase its performance by completely disabling the file swap. To do this, select one by one all partitions from the list on which the file can be placed swap and check the box next to “Without file” for each of them swap" For Windows 7 and Vista operating systems, disabling a file swap may, on the contrary, reduce the performance of the computer, so for these operating systems it is not advisable to completely disable it.

Once you are done changing the file settings swap in the “Virtual Memory” window, click the OK button in it and the “Apply” button in the “Performance Options” window. Then close everything open windows And running programs and restart your computer. After the reboot, all the settings you have made will take effect.

note

Complete shutdown The page file can cause a serious operating system crash if the physical RAM becomes full. This can lead to programs crashing and loss of unsaved data. Therefore, if the amount of physical RAM is not enough to perform all your operations on the computer, do not disable the page file.

Significant acceleration of the operating system can be achieved by changing the settings of the paging file. This file is standard means OS to provide stable work several at the same time running applications for which there is not enough RAM.

Instructions

Set the paging file to a fixed size, reducing disk fragmentation and allowing disk space to be freely reallocated. To do this, open the “Control Panel” and go to the “System” section. Open the "Performance" tab and in the settings virtual memory install same value for the “Minimum” and “Maximum” parameters.

A figure 2-4 times the size of RAM will be quite sufficient. For example, if you have 1024 MB of RAM, enter 2048–4096 MB as the paging file size. In the same dialog box, you can select the disk on which the paging file will be located.

If you have two operating systems installed on your computer, such as Win 9x and Win NT, you can assign just one page file to them to save space on your computer. local disk. Find the System.ini file in the Windows 9x directory, and in its section add the parameter PagingFile=paging file name. For example, PagingFile=D:\Pagefile.sys if the Windows NT file is located on drive D and is named Pagefile.sys. After that old file Win386.swp swap should be deleted.

The PagingDrive parameter is responsible for creating a disk for the paging file, and it is its size that changes when you change the values ​​for the Minimum and Maximum parameters from the Control Panel. However, PagingFile takes precedence over it, and having PagingFile installed overrides the need to use PagingDrive.

In addition, you can do it differently - “force” the OS, if it is Windows 2000 or XP, to access the swap file of another, more early version systems. To do this, you need to change the PagingFiles key in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management.

This key contains the paging file sizes at different logical drives. For example, if your computer has Windows 98 installed on drive C and Windows 2000 or XP on drive D, change the file name D:\Pagefile.Sys to C:\Win386.swp.

How to configure the swap file? What it is? How does it affect the performance of the entire system?

In Windows there is such a file, it is called a sweep file, which is an extension of the computer’s RAM, the so-called virtual memory or paging file. So, to this Windows file accesses constantly, we write something there and read something from there, in the process of executing programs. The most interesting thing is that Windows accesses this file regardless of the amount of RAM. The only thing is that when there is little memory, it is accessed more often. When there is a lot of memory, it accesses less often, but it still accesses. Even if the computer has 16 GB of RAM installed, Windows continues to work with the page file, which slows down the system.

In addition, this file has dynamic size, which is calculated each time it is accessed, and this costs time. In addition, if the file is not whole, it will be read even slower. And whole dynamic file cannot exist in principle, since as it expands it fills the voids between files. From the above, the following conclusion suggests itself: if you make the size of this file constant and write it to disk as a whole, then Windows will access it faster. And most importantly, this acceleration will extend to the operation of the entire system.

We will consider setting up the paging file at Windows example 7. Since the operating principle of all Windows is the same and the interfaces are extremely similar, everything described in this article is fully consistent with Windows 10 / 8 / 8.1 / xp. And so, to make the settings for this file, you need to right-click on the computer icon and go to computer properties or through the control panel to system properties. Next, open “Advanced system settings”.

Then open the “Advanced” tab, then in the “Performance” section, click the “Options” button.

In the window that opens, select the “Advanced” tab and click the “Change” button.

The "Virtual Memory" window opens.

This window is split into two parts. In the first, most important part, the paging file is configured. The second, smaller part displays size recommendations and total size existing file paging on all disks.

At the very top of the "Virtual Memory" window there is an item "Automatically select the size of the paging file." If this item is checked, the settings window becomes unavailable and all paging file modes are selected by the system. For execution manual settings The checkbox in this item must be unchecked. By default, the system locates the paging file on system disk, as a rule, this is drive C, and its size is dynamic, that is, changing depending on needs from 16 MB minimum to as many (MB, GB, TB) as the system needs. The maximum size of a paging file is theoretically limited only by the free space of the disk on which it is located. Naturally, it is basically impossible for a system to work quickly with such a file. In practice, the maximum volume rarely reaches the recommended one.

Imagine a steam locomotive pulling a train with carriages containing various loads. At each station the locomotive stops and work begins on forming a new train. Some cars are uncoupled, others are coupled. And every time different quantities carriages. As you understand, the procedure is quite long. Tolley is a train with a fixed number of cars or trolleys. The train pulled up to the station, they loaded the trolleys with cargo and the train moved on. At the next station the necessary trolleys were turned over, i.e. were released and the train moved again without delays. So here, too, a fixed size of the paging file works faster than a dynamic one (there are no calculations related to volumes). All that remains is to determine how much volume we need.

As you remember HDD This is the slowest device in a computer. Ideally, during program execution, it is desirable that there are no calls to it at all; this is the only way to achieve maximum performance systems. But the fact is that Windows is designed to be multitasking system and also capable of implementing multitasking mode when small volumes memory. This is precisely facilitated by the paging file, into which inactive tasks are unloaded. When memory is low, for example 512 MB, the system accesses the page file every time it switches from task to task (from program to program). And what more programs we have it enabled at the same time, the larger the swap file will be required. In reality, you will need about 2.5 GB. Of course, this is a conditional approximation and it very much depends on the volume of programs used.

Now imagine that we doubled the amount of RAM to 1 GB. What will happen now? Several programs, for example 2-3 (depending on their size), will be able to work entirely in memory. The system will start accessing the paging file only when there is not enough memory, and this will happen if you add the number of active ones. As a result, 2 GB will be enough for you.

Let's now double the memory capacity - up to 2 GB. Have you noticed what's happening? The amount of memory used migrates from the page file to RAM. That is, now we should have enough paging file within 1.5 GB. And if the memory is doubled to 4 GB, 1 GB should be enough for everything. Based on this sequence, we can assume that if you have 8 GB or more, you can completely abandon the paging file. And this theory is true to some extent. But everything depends, as I said, on the load on the system, i.e. from quantity active programs and from their gravity, that is, volume. For example, with 2 GB of memory, the system creates a page file of 2.7 GB, but recommends 3 GB.

So I suggest starting to try with volumes equal to those recommended by the system. Further, depending on your needs, if this volume is large or small, then you can always wisely reduce or increase it based on the previous paragraph and bring the size of the paging file to the ideal size. And so you have received enough information to accept correct solution in terms of volume.

But the question is, how to make the swap file intact? The thought arises: is it possible to defragment the paging file? The system does not defragment the swap file directly. But there is a way to make it so. And so, the first thing we need to do is disable the swap file created after installing Windows. Let's do it this way.

Select the option “without paging file” and click the “Set” button. The system will curse and display a warning window:
How to configure the swap file - Warning

Since we are doing this intentionally, we click "Yes". And a new window appears asking us to reboot the system for the changes to take effect.
How to configure the swap file - Reboot suggestion

Click "OK" and reboot the system. Windows now boots without a page file. To new file swap appears to be intact, it is necessary to defragment the disk space. Since we strive for maximum system performance, we will place the file on drive C (this is the case with one physical disk). Therefore, we will defragment Disk C. To do this, open the My Computer tab. Point the mouse to drive C and click right button mouse and select properties. Open the "Service" tab and click on the "Defragmentation" button.

How to configure the paging file - Disk defragmentation

The defragmenter program will start. Select drive C and click "Disk Defragmenter".
How to set up a paging file - Defragmentation of drive C

If suddenly for some reason you don’t have a Windows defragmenter installed or you’re not happy with it, then it’s okay. For example, download the free Auslogics Disk Defrag and defragment drive C, as shown in the figure below.
How to configure the swap file - Auslogics

Next, we return to the paging file settings window. How to configure the swap file - Setting the file size

Select a defragmented drive C or another specially prepared empty hard drive. Select the “Specify size” section, enter the “Initial” and Maximum” sizes in megabytes in the windows. In this case, I indicated the system-recommended size of 3070 MB. The numbers must be the same, this is important for creating a fixed size of the paging file. Next, click the set button. Specified the numbers will appear in the line of drive C, as in the figure. Next, click the “OK” button. Now Windows will create a new unfragmented swap file in a new location during boot.

Attention: VERY IMPORTANT point!!!

If you have two or more Hard Disks (not partitions, but physical disks), then better file Place the swap space on a different drive than the one where the system drive C is located, preferably on the fastest one. This will significantly speed up the performance of the entire system. To do this, you need to prepare the first partition on another disk. It is advisable that the disk be empty and then the paging file will be located at the very beginning of the first partition and will immediately take up the whole space. This will give another small increase in the acceleration of the entire system.

After setting up the paging file in this way, the system will start working faster, and in the case of two disks, much faster.

Happy ACCELERATION. I hope that you understand "How to configure the paging file?" and for you now this is not a big problem.

If you have questions, ask in the comments.

Almost all the materials on , which I have come across on the Internet, mention such an object of the Windows operating system as the paging file (virtual memory). It is assumed that optimization of the paging file should affect the speed of the operating system and the computer as a whole. But is this really so and does it exist? optimal file swap? Let's find out...

Why do you need a swap file?

I’ll explain in a nutshell what this file is and what it is needed for.

Every computer has RAM, which processes data most quickly. But almost always there is not enough RAM to solve current problems, and to eliminate this deficiency, it was created special file, which, as you know, is called the paging file.
The page file is located on the hard drive and is a system file.

The page file is usually hidden from the user, like most other system files.

During work Windows computer places data in this file that does not fit in RAM. In the future, this data can again be placed in RAM and again uploaded to the paging file.

Do I need to move the swap file?

By default, the paging file is created on the system drive, that is, usually on the C drive on which Windows is installed. I have already repeatedly come across a recommendation to move the paging file to another (non-system) partition, which seems to improve performance.

But is it? Let's figure it out.

Microsoft itself, in one of its articles, recommends moving the paging file to another partition: “ You can increase system performance and also free up space on the boot partition by moving this file to an alternative section».

However, it is not specified which section. Therefore, many, relying on this information, they simply recommend moving the paging file, for example, to drive D. It is believed that moving the paging file to a non-system partition will reduce it, which is the constant companion of all files in, and this, in turn, should increase the performance of the operating system.

As for fragmentation, I agree - when moving the swap file from system partition its fragmentation should decrease, but in this situation such an event will be of little use, or rather, there will be even more harm.

The fact is that the absence of a paging file on the system disk will not allow the system to create memory dumps.

A memory dump is a snapshot of RAM that can be extremely useful in identifying the causes of failures. That is, analyzing a memory dump quite often allows us to identify the reason that caused the computer to reboot or freeze.

Perhaps for most users this is not a particularly popular function, but if emergency situations arise, analyzing a memory dump is practically the only opportunity to get to the bottom of the problem at home.

As I already mentioned, fragmentation of the page file on a non-system drive will indeed be less pronounced. However, this will have virtually no effect on the speed of working with the file and you will not feel any performance gain.

But this still does not mean that moving the swap file is pointless.

When is moving the swap file justified?

If you have two connected to your computer hard drives, then it makes sense to move the swap file to one of the partitions specifically second hard disk.

Wherein optimal solution will create two paging files - one on the system disk, and the second on one of the partitions of the second hard drive.

The first swap file will allow you to create memory dumps for analyzing emergency situations. A second swap file will speed up Windows operation with it, since it will be physically located on another device.

You can come across recommendations that call for creating a separate partition for the swap file in order to minimize its fragmentation during system operation. As I said earlier, defragmentation doesn't play a role key role in the speed of system operation with the swap file. Therefore, you can not create a separate partition for it, but simply place the file on one of the existing partitions of the second hard drive.

Now let's talk about how to do this.

How to transfer the swap file

In the Control Panel, go to the “System” section:

Let's find the "Performance" subsection:

And on the “Advanced” tab, turn to the “Virtual Memory” subsection:

Uncheck the box that automatically adjusts the size of the paging file, and in the list of available drives, select the one to which you want to transfer it.

And here a completely logical question arises - how to determine the required volume of this file?

Optimal paging file size

Unfortunately, it is impossible to say unambiguously which optimal size the swap file needs to be installed. It all depends on many factors, primarily on the amount of RAM installed on the computer. And of course, it depends on what purposes the computer is used for, that is, what programs are launched on it and what tasks are solved using the computer.

I can only say that the more RAM installed on the computer, the less the paging file will be used by the system.

But this statement is not always true, since there are very resource-intensive programs for which even 64GB of RAM will not be enough.

For this reason, the optimal paging file for each computer will be different. But you can follow Microsoft's advice when setting up the page file.

According to information from the Microsoft website, Windows contains next principle: "Windows installs original size paging file equal to the amount of RAM on your computer, and the maximum paging file size corresponds to triple the amount of RAM".

If this question arises, then most likely you have decided to optimize the operation of the operating system. Will the paging file, or, as it is also called, the swap file, or virtual memory, speed up the computer? If you configure it correctly, then yes. How to change the paging file in Windows, and what size should I specify? Let's get started.

The paging file, in most cases, is needed for applications to run in background. The larger its volume, the more intensively the system will use it. It is logical that the larger the amount of RAM, the less virtual memory is needed for stable and fast operation.

How to specify the volume?

We minimize all windows for the convenience of subsequent actions. It is advisable to finish working with documents and files - after changing the value of the paging file, you will need to restart the computer. Next we perform the following steps.

  1. The desktop is open. Right-click on the “Computer” icon and select “Properties”.
  2. A window opens to view information about your computer. On the left side of the window there is the following inscription: “Advanced system settings” - here we go.
  3. A window appears on the “Advanced” tab. Here we see 4 buttons: 3 “Options” buttons and at the very bottom “ Environment Variables" We are interested in the top button, in the “Performance” section.
  4. So now we are in the " Visual effects" If you want, you can change the system operation to the “Ensure best performance" But, to change the paging file, go to the “Advanced” tab.
  5. In the “Virtual Memory” section there is a change button, click it.
  6. Set the required size and click “Set”.
  7. That's it - now you know how to change the page file in Windows!

What swap size should I set?

The next question that may arise will concern the specified values. Right? Let's start with some additional guidelines.

  1. The paging file should be located on drive C. If your computer has 2 or even more hard drives, then choose the fastest one.
  2. The minimum and maximum values ​​must match - then the system will not independently increase and compress the file, which will increase the speed of operation.

We offer the following virtual memory values:

  • 512 MB of RAM or less - paging file is 2560 MB;
  • 512-1024 MB – 2048 MB;
  • 1024-2048 MB – 1536 MB;
  • 2048-4096 MB – 1280 MB;
  • 4096-8192 MB – 1024 MB.

These values ​​are considered optimal for computer operation. There are other points of view, one of which says that virtual memory should be 2 times larger than RAM. The other states that the paging file value should be set equal to or half as much. Which option should I choose? You decide.

Page file on powerful computers

Many experts argue that a paging file is not needed when the amount of RAM is over 6 GB. This parameter is quite sufficient for the operation of active and minimized programs. However, there are some applications that make heavy use of the page file. Its absence will lead to crash work.

The optimal solution would be to disable the paging file until the need arises. If this happens, allocate 1024 MB of virtual memory. And save the page for yourself, just in case, so as not to forget how to change the paging file in Windows.