Windows Vista is the first Microsoft operating system which needs a specific tailored computer to work. As a matter of fact it is so memory hungry that it requires a powerful computer to run. This thing didn’t happen with XP which was as fast as a rocket even with as low as 512 MB of RAM and a low performing hardware. When Vista was released, Microsoft itself was very aware of its RAM-needs and in fact advised “at least” 1GB of RAM to run the O.S. on a computer. In the meanwhile a lot of people started buying 3,4,5 GB of RAM but what they didn’t know was that their 32 bit Windows Vista could only handle 3 GB at most! Luckily for those guys there is a little trick which enables their Vista “to overcome” that limit. Here is the trick:
- Click Start.
- Type CMD in the Search Bar.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run cmd in administrative mode.
- Type BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable
- If this does not work try other 2 times at least. As a matter of fact Vista does not take this command right away in some cases. Make also sure to type the command in the same way it is written on point 4.
- If Vista got this command successfully you should see the following message: the operation completed successfully.
- To undo it, type: BCDEdit /deletevalue PAE
Tags: hack, Vista
(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)If you're new to Webtlk.com and like what you read, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or press CTRL+D to bookmark me. Thanks for visiting!
13 Comments to “Enable more than 4 GB of RAM in 32 bit Windows Vista”
Leave a Comment
Best screen resolution 1280x800 or higher.
Web Talk is best viewed in Firefox.
Windows How to's:
Firefox How to's:
October 24th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Nice! How about the XP version with the /PAE switch or /3G switch?
October 24th, 2008 at 7:02 am
i had the same issue and i got out of trouble by adding to the boot.ini this file:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /PAE
October 24th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
you spelled “tailored” wrong in the 1st paragraph. Use firefox — built-in spell checker.
October 25th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Thanks Sikanrong. Actually I use it, but every now and then I miss something! Thanks!
October 25th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I’m pretty sure that won’t work unless you at least have a 64-bit processor. The reason the limit is 3 GB is because that’s about the most a 32-bit processor is even capable of accessing.
October 25th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
This wont let Vista x86 to utilize all 4GB with SP1. It will only let the OS acknowledge that there is 4GB but only 3.5GB will still be able to be used.
IMO, Microsoft shouldn’t have done this because of all the confusion. You still need a 64 bit operating system to utilize 4GB+ of RAM.
October 26th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Well, 3,5 GB are still better than 3GB. At least I won’t have spent my buck uselessly to buy a whole1 GB of RAM! Darn Microsoft.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:09 am
@ Techieguz
Microsoft are not at fault, you are. Don’t try and blame them for your stupidity. If you are building a PC, you should at least know these basic things. It is not Microsofts fault anyway, it is the architectures fault.
There is now no reason to stay with 32 bit. All the drivers I required all have x86 and x64 versions, I have had no problems running x86 programs in Vista x64. If you are going to be running better and more expensive hardware, x64 is the way to go.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hey, i tried what was posted up there, the “BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable ” thing and it says “The operation compleated successfully”.
But My system is still only useing 2 GBs out of 4 GBs of RAM.
Anything else i can try?
by the way it does show in the welcome screen that i have 4 GBs.. and i’m running windows vista home premium SP1.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Even better solution to the 3GB limit!
Install Linux.
Done.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hi Ghost_BOFH,
you know what? I completely agree with you! LOL!
November 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
i tried it and got the “operation completed successfully” a few times but im still reading 3.25/5 gbs of ram, im also running 32-bit student edition if that matters
November 19th, 2008 at 3:22 am
haha nvm I didn’t have sp1 that fixed it