Question re XP and maximum RAM

[*isteve]

Originally Posted by WMBP

Steve,

Will it really? The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor says "Your PC supports hardware assisted virtualization technology but it must be enabled in the system BIOS before running Windows XP Mode."

Which causes me to want to bust out the vodka.

Do I enable "hardware assisted virtualization technology in the system BIOS of my CURRENT system (XP SP3) before installing Windows 7? Or after?

And as between 7 Pro and 7 Premium, which would you recommend?

Will

Hi Will, yes you should be able to enable the virtualisation technology in BIOS on your current system before installing Win7. If you are running XP you will have to do a complete ground up install anyway. When you reinstall your XP software you can opt to install it in either mode (native or XP emulation). There should not be too much performance overhead. You can sometimes check the software for compatability on the internet.

Ultimate only has bitlocker encryption and multi-language support for an extra $20.

I would get Professional. See here....

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...e/default.aspx

[Gooshin]

a note on 32bit vs 64bit

before getting the 64bit OS, make sure your CPU CHIP supports it!

[PeterAM]

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

If you are running XP 32 bit and have 4gb of ram installed, research the /3gb switch. This allows XP to give 3gb of ram over to programs. Stock XP allocates 2gb of ram for programs, so adding an extra gig of ram to something like Photoshop can have a tremendous impact on performance.

How/where does one find the/3gb switch?

[jimH]

I've got 3 gig in my XP Dell. It's my understanding that XP can't handle 4 gig.

[WMBP]

Originally Posted by PeterAM

How/where does one find the/3gb switch?

I'd recommend reading about it - read more than 1 article. Google "windows xp /3gb switch". I'm not sure it's a good idea, at least for me with my 4GB of physical RAM. It's a bit technical but there seems to be a reason why XP by default allocates its resources the way it does.

You make the change by editing a little text file that's read every time you boot the computer. If you decide to try this be sure to edit in such a way that you give yourself an alternative - in other words, that if the system fails to boot one way, it will automatically roll over and boot the other way. If you edit the .ini file wrong or have a problem - for example, a driver conflict - your computer might simply NOT startup at all, at least from what I have read tonight.

It's an interesting suggestion, though. I'm going to ask over at Adobe forums if I would see any benefit in Lightroom 2.5 if I did this....

Will

[Gooshin]

Lightroom loves RAM, the more you give it the faster it will work.

Originally Posted by WMBP

I'd recommend reading about it - read more than 1 article. Google "windows xp /3gb switch". I'm not sure it's a good idea, at least for me with my 4GB of physical RAM. It's a bit technical but there seems to be a reason why XP by default allocates its resources the way it does.

You make the change by editing a little text file that's read every time you boot the computer. If you decide to try this be sure to edit in such a way that you give yourself an alternative - in other words, that if the system fails to boot one way, it will automatically roll over and boot the other way. If you edit the .ini file wrong or have a problem - for example, a driver conflict - your computer might simply NOT startup at all, at least from what I have read tonight.

It's an interesting suggestion, though. I'm going to ask over at Adobe forums if I would see any benefit in Lightroom 2.5 if I did this....

Will

[Wheatfield]

Originally Posted by PeterAM

How/where does one find the/3gb switch?

Read about it here:
Memory Support and Windows Operating Systems

In a nutshell, if you have XP Pro it will address 4gb of ram, but the default allocation is 2gb for Windows, 2gb for programs. Putting /3gb into the command line of the boot.ini file (you won't see it unless you tell Windows to show hidden and operating system files) tells Windows to allocate the ram so that programs get 3gb.
I've only had this fail to work once, that being with my present computer. Booting to safe mode and taking out the /3gb command allowed the machine to boot normally.

[PeterAM]

The computer that I am going to upgrade is running XP Home;everything, including LR runs fine, albeit slow. Do you think that it would be worth upgrading the OS to XP Pro to take advantage of the incremental 1GB of RAM? If so, can XP be upgraded versus having to do a clean install?

[claskowski]

Hello,

For the upgrade from "Home" to "Pro" - not possible.

To add the /3 switch - you will need to edit the boot.ini file - may have to unhide this - open up the Windows file explorer (not internet explorer) and go to 'Tools' -> 'Folder Options' -> click the 'view' tab...make sure that "Show hidden files" is checked and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files". Click OK. Go back to the file explorer - and find the file 'boot.ini' in the root of "C". MAKE A COPY OF THIS FILE.

Add the /3GB switch

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microso ft Windows XP Home" /3GB

When done - hide the files again (to be safe).

If you have an integrated video card - you can allocate the remaining memory to that - it will process graphics a bit quicker (ie games).

Windows 7 - I have seen and received many reports of it rebooting about 2/3 of the way through installation. The cause is having something other than a keyboard and mouse attached. Make sure that you do not have anything else connected (memory key, printer, card reader) and it loads like a champ.

Hope this helps

[deejjjaaaa]

you can "use" all 4Gb on 32bit XP - just get software like Ramdisk from SuperSpeed ( Microsoft Certified RamDisk Solutions ) - as in old good days you can put some temp directories on your virtual disk... I run it on 32bit XP/SP3 on 4GB RAM machine and I have ~750mb virtual disk in addition to 3 gb RAM.