Windows 2003 32-Bit – Enable large memory support (PAE)

Windows 2003 Server 32-Bit [Datacenter Edition and Enterprise Edition] can support in excess of 4Gb memory but it is not enabled by default. To enable it, do the following:

1. Open My Computer with Windows Explorer
2. Ensure that you can see System and Hidden files:
   1. Click on Tools -> Folder Options
   2. Select the View tab
   3. Select the following
   1. Show hidden files and folders
   2. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types
   3. Uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)

1. Click OK
2. Navigate to C:\
3. Right-click on boot.ini and click on Properties
4. Uncheck the Read-Only flag and click OK
5. Open boot.ini in Notepad
6. Change your boot.ini entries from something like this:

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

to this (note the /PAE at the end):

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut /PAE

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut /PAE

7. Reboot the system.

You should now see any memory beyond 4Gb. The following maximum’s apply where PAE is enabled:

More info on the /PAE switch can be found here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx