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VirtualWork1
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Server 2003 Enterprise 32bit only seeing 3GB's of RAM when 8GB is assigned in VM

Created a new VM in Vsphere 4 using Server 2003 32 bit Enterprise. The enterprise edition should see the extra RAM that the VM has assigned but so far only sees 3Gb's. I've read several things about adding something to the boot.ini but I don't believe in this case that would be a solution as that seems to help you overcome the issue on a Standard Edition 32 bit, not Enterprise which should see the RAM.

Has anyone else encountered this issue and possibly come up with a solution?

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peaseofchad
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Are your Physical Address Extentions enabled? Here is the Microsoft KBase article that I followed to get 2 of my Enterprise servers to work.

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Troy_Clavell
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you are 100% sure the OS in question is Enterprise?

what information do you get if you run msinfo32 from the command prompt or run line?

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Linjo
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You need a 64-bit Windows to detect more then 3Gb of ram

Best regards,

Linjo

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Best regards, Linjo Please follow me on twitter: @viewgeek If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
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peaseofchad
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Are your Physical Address Extentions enabled? Here is the Microsoft KBase article that I followed to get 2 of my Enterprise servers to work.

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VirtualWork1
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This direct link provided the information I needed. Thank you so much. In case anyone else should encounter this here is exactly what I did.

Opened the boot.ini file - (instructions here)

Added the /PAE right after /fast detect in the boot.ini as discussed here and in the previous post by peaseofchad.

Saved the ini changes and rebooted the server and it now sees all 8Gb's of RAM.

Thank you so much!

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peaseofchad
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You're welcome! Happy I could help you!

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