windows 2003 general sys props show 3.75gb

[13erla]

in all my windows 2003 vms that have 4gb of memory allocated, they read in system properties as having 3.75gb ram.

is that normal?

in the config i can see 4092 is allocated. and in task manager i see 3931528 for physical memory (k)

thoughts?

[esiebert7625]

Yes it is normal, that is the maximum amount of RAM Windows Server 2003 Standard can see. In 32 bit versions of Windows it is not uncommon to have systems recognizing only 3.75 or even 3.5 GB of ram.

3931528 Kilobytes = 3.7493972778320312 Gigabytes

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[esiebert7625]

Also see this post, you can try using the /pae switch in the boot.ini to get slightly more RAM...

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=372175

[13erla]

right but I also have a 64bit guest that is win 2k3 standard 64bit R2. and this one is the same.

i thought 64bit could address more by default

[esiebert7625]

32-bit standard can address up to 4GB, 64-bit standard can address up to 32GB. You can try using the /3GB and/or /PAE switches in the boot.ini to get it to see more.

[VirtualNoitall]

Do not use /PAE with 64bit Windows. It is not required or supported.

[VirtualNoitall]

Hello,

Here is an article that talks to this: http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/2007/04/13/the-3gb-not-4gb-ram-problem.aspx

This is normal and I see it in physical machines all the time.

[esiebert7625]

Good find, thats a nice detailed doc...

[Felicio_Santos]

Definelly an excellent reference !

The MS article Q929580 declares this can occur to Windows 2003 and Vista.

The question I left is: "If this is an issue this chipsets/memory allocation of devices and VMWare products emulates some devices (as SCSI adapter and VGA adapter) why VMWare does not created/utilized/upgrade the emulation devices ?"

Felicio Santos, CAPM

MCITS 2008 AD,Networking,Apps-MCSE 2003,2000,NT-MCSA 2003,2000 Messaging-CompTIA Network+