If you think the virtual memory file is too big and occupying a lot of space, follow these steps to change virtual memory size.
Virtual Memory, also known as Paging file is a system file that is mainly used to extend the system-committed memory, store infrequently accessed pages or files and even dump crash logs and other information. There is no set size for virtual memory file. Windows automatically decides the size of the paging file depending on factors like how much RAM your system has and the size of the hard drive.
Simply put, more often than not, every system’s paging file will be of a different size. Generally, virtual memory doesn’t consume more than a few gigabytes of the hard drive space. However, I’ve seen some as large as 15 to 25GB. This happens mainly because of the huge number of the crash dumps and/or applications they use.
To check your current virtual memory size, open the PC Settings app, go to “System → Storage” and click on the “System & Reserved” option. You will see the paging file size under “Virtual Memory”.
If you think your virtual memory size is too small or too big, you can change paging file size with just a few clicks. Here’s how.
Before making any changes, I encourage you to create a system backup or restore point. With that, you can restore your system if the results are not to your liking or if something bad happens.
Change Virtual Memory File Size
Increasing or decreasing paging file size is nothing hard. All you have to do is change a couple of settings and you will good. Like I said earlier, make sure that you either back up the system or create a restore point.
1. First, open the start menu, search for “System” and click on the result to open the System Properties window. Alternatively, you can also open System from “Control Panel → System and Security → System”.
2. Here, click on the “Advanced System Settings” link appearing on the left panel.
3. The above action will open the advanced properties window. Here, make sure you are in the Advanced tab and click on the “Settings” button under Performance section.
4. Now, go to the Advanced tab and click on the “Change” button under Virtual Memory section. You can also see the current paging size for all devices under this section.
5. Here, follow the below steps one after the other.
- Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” checkbox.
- Select “C” drive from the list.
- Select the “Custom Size” radio option.
- Enter the minimum size in MBs in the “Initial Size” field (Should be equal to or more than 2GB).
- Enter the maximum size in MBs in the “Maximum Size” field (Should be equal to or more than 4GB).
- Click on the “Set” button.
6. Finally, click on the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons to save changes.
Reboot Windows and from now only, Windows will only set the virtual memory according to the size restrictions set by you.
If you ever want to revert back, simply select the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” checkbox and you are done.
Hope that helps. If you got stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.
If you like this article, do check out how to disable reserved storage feature and free up space in Windows 10.
