How to Disable Pagefile in Windows 7

Disable pagefile and virtual memory on Windows 7 when needed

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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If you want to disable pagefile on Windows 7, you will need to follow a few easy steps. This article will describe them and also help you learn about a few related things.

Paging files can be necessary and has a lot of benefits. Especially if yourPC has a low amount of RAM, it may help togain some performance. However, sometimes, you may need to disable it for any reason, including troubleshooting purposes.

What is pagefile?

Page files are system files that hold information for RAM. When yourPC runs out of memory, RAM stores some data on a specific part of an HDD or SSD. Windows may read page files when necessary. Also, RAM may swap information with these files if required.

Usually, it may act as virtual memory andboost performance on PCswith low memory capacity. But, for some users with low disk space, it also can be a problem if thepagefile.syssize becomes bigger.

How can I disable pagefile on Windows 7?

Before disabling the page file, you should think about the following things:

If you get a positive answer, you can follow two steps to turn off virtual memory or paging file on Windows 7.

1. Open the Performance options window

After opening the performance options, you will need to follow the steps mentioned below.

2. Turn off pagefile

After doing the above things, restart Windows 7. From now, it will not create or use any page file.

What happens if you disable the paging file or set the initial size to less than 3 GB?

Though some recommend disabling the page file, you should not do so for several reasons. Contrary to popular opinion, disabling the page file will not improve the PC’s performance.

Rather, it will causeprograms to crashas soon as Windows runs out of RAM to allocate, and in some cases, thePC itself crashes. Besides, several users reported their inability to run resource-intensive processes, particularlyVirtual Machines.

Coming to theInitial Sizeof the paging file, Microsoft recommends that you keep it 1.5 times the available memory. So, if your PC has 2 GB RAM, theInitial Sizewill be 3 GB (3072 MB). Setting it lower shouldn’t have adverse effects, but avoid doing that.

So, for safety, let Windows handle the page files until there is a valid reason to stop this feature. If necessary, you also canincrease Windows virtual memory and page file size. You can refrain from increasing the size if there arelow disk spaceissues.

If you face problems that seem to be related to the page file, it may be because of incompatible drivers. So, use a tool likeOutbyte Driver Updaterto update drivers.

Also, if you have any questions regarding this, feel free to ask in the comment box.

How to Disable Pagefile in Windows 7#

What is pagefile?#

How can I disable pagefile on Windows 7?#

1. Open the Performance options window#

2. Turn off pagefile#

What happens if you disable the paging file or set the initial size to less than 3 GB?#