Paging File missing or too small

[bkap]

Still trying to solve this issue. http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=20170Is the recover console a possibility? What about a reinstall over the existing installation? What will that leave me with?Thanks

Edited January 31, 2008 by bkap

[Guitar Man]

I read your original thread. You could have "bumped" your topic by posting in it again. Hopefully one of the staff members can merge this into it.If SFC fails to do the job, a repair install is the next step (as opposed to the RC). Fred Langa has a well written guide for this.BTW, if SFC asks for the CD, just keep pressing the 'Retry' button. There is a workaround to avoid getting constant requests. But we can tackle that at another time.re the page file, once you get to your desktop, you can reset it by removing any page file located on your drive, rebooting and resetting it again, either using a static size or (better), a system-managed one if you have ample RAM. (Go to Run>sysdm.cpl>Advanced tab>Performance>Advanced, and select no page file).re account startup issues, you may have a corrupt user profile hive, which can be cleaned up by using Microsoft's User Profile Hive Cleanup Service.My 1st choice (in terms of time saving) would be to do a repair install, and avoid several steps. The only thing you'll have to reinstall will be the subsequent updates after SP2 (if you have a slipstreamed XP SP2 CD).HTH

[bkap]

Thanks Phil,I had not tried resetting the page file. When I turned it off and restarted I did not get an error message. I reset to a static size and the error came back.Turned it off again and got the error message again after restart. Even though it was set to no page file.The repair reinstall is looking like my last hope. I have the original install and an SP2 CD. Is there an easy way fo doing all the updates? Sorry if its answered in the article. Haven't read it yet.

[Guitar Man]

Normally, if you remove the page file entirely, you'll get a warning. This is normal. But reboots should work nonetheless, and AFAIK another reminder will pop up once you boot up to the desktop.The Langa instructions will not include anything other than the step-by-step instructions (with screenshots) to do the repair. The guide confirms that the actual "repair" option is buried behind 4 subsequent screen changes (see Fig 7). You will need to re-install the remaining updates after SP2 is installed. What's good about the article, is that you should not have to worry about getting lost in the screen choices once the routine starts up, and not losing your installed applications and 3rd party programs. Normal checks for real-time scanning agents may be required. But this is a few minutes worth of your time. IMO it's one of the best guides on a repair.Once this is done, you can perform a slipstream of XP with SP2, and create a bootable CD, saving you time the next occasion that you have to do this.

[Tushman]

Thanks Phil,I had not tried resetting the page file. When I turned it off and restarted I did not get an error message. I reset to a static size and the error came back.Turned it off again and got the error message again after restart. Even though it was set to no page file.The repair reinstall is looking like my last hope. I have the original install and an SP2 CD. Is there an easy way fo doing all the updates? Sorry if its answered in the article. Haven't read it yet.

As it's been pointed out by Guitar Man above, you should have just continued with your old thread which would help to keep the thoughts organized alittle bit better. At any rate, looks like you are planning on doing a fresh installation of XP which is what I would have recommended. Once you get your new XP installation up & running, do not mess around w/ the page file setting. Windows can manage it far better than you can.

[bkap]

Can I do a repair with the SP2 disk.? Does it boot? Will I then have to do subsequent updates?Thanks

[Ed_P]

Can I do a repair with the SP2 disk.? Does it boot? Will I then have to do subsequent updates?

No, no, and probably yes.Get a utility like AutoStreamer and slipstream your original XP and SP2 CDs. Use that as the basis of your repair install.Once the system is repaired and running back it up. DriveImage XML is a free backup utility.

[Guitar Man]

Will I then have to do subsequent updates?

Yes, in both cases (slipstreamed or not).I strongly recommend AutoStreamer too, out of all the guides/tools that I have seen and tried. It was the only one that worked on the 1st try without a hitch, using a very old version of Roxio EZCD Creator 5.5 (which I still use for burning).

[bkap]

Yes I did the Autostream last night. Created a bootabe CD. Nice tool.But the readme file said to use the SP2 network version which I downloaded.. They way Autostream asked for the SP2 file didn't seem to allow me to point to the SP2 CD I had copied to my Hard drive. It needed one file to point to.Now does the SP2 file I D/L last night include up to date patches?You mention Drive image. I'll try it.I have found Acronis to be cumbersome. Setting up back up locations, multiple incremental files. Won't go across my network to back up my laptop to an external drive. My needs are not complicated.

Edited January 8, 2008 by bkap

[Guitar Man]

re the SP2 network source, it will install only what is missing AFAIK. Either the network or SP2 CD files can be pointed to in the Autostream process. I used the SP2 CD to make mine, but can't remember exactly the target file directory. It was a long time ago.At this point in XP's lifecycle, either way, you will have about 90 updates to cover after SP2 is loaded after a fresh or repair install.

[bkap]

So I do the repair install with the slipstreamed sp2 disc. Goes smoothly. This is the repair selection in Setup after it searches for existing windows installation. Not the first ® repair choice. No change. Still has pagefile error at log in. But its worse. I downloaded 89 updates. Failed to install three times. Tried from the MS webite. That failed and brings me to a trouble shoot page to search. Search for keywords "failed updates" and similar. No matches. I am now in a loop of reminders to download, download, install, fail.Reminds me of why when asked "what PC to buy" I say "Buy a Mac" .

Edited January 14, 2008 by bkap

[kkehoe]

Personally, I would have wiped the drive many days ago, but that's me. I did have a look around when you originally posted but didn't find anything useful. However, I did look again and I think you may have a permissions issue on the root of the drive, preventing the operating system from creating/modifying the page file. This article somewhat addresses that in a backhanded way:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883275Since your existing install of Windows *WILL* boot, you can skip over a lot of the instructions. If you get lucky you might be able to just do this part:

3. Restart your computer, log on to the original installation of Windows XP, and then reset the Windows permissions. To reset the Windows permissions, follow these steps: a. Click Start, click Run, type Explorer.exe, and then click OK. b. Expand My Computer, expand the drive that contains the original system files, right-click the folder that contains the original system files, and then click Properties. c. On the Security tab, click Administrators, click Full Control under Allow, and then click Apply. d. On the Security tab, click System, click Full Control under Allow, and then click Apply. e. On the Security tab, click Everyone, click Remove, and then click OK.

The Windows Update one might be a bit easier, as it's usually caused by mismatched Windows Update files after a repair install. This article addresses that issue:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144Kevin

[zlim]

Originally you said,

After swapping out hard drives using an Acronis image

...got me thinking because I just made an image tonight and one of the options is to have no swap file. I've never tried to image without because I was always too scared that there would be a problem.You may not remember but was the image made without a swap file? Could that be the factor creating the original problem?Sorry I have no answer on how you would fix it.

[bkap]

Liz, Kevin Thanks. Yes it does seem like permissions. But I've tried various ways of updating them. I'll try yours. I did finally find that 943144. My regular searches in MS KB did not find it. I googled and found it. But not until after I went through a mess yesterday. After I couldn't do updates I tried one at a time. No help. Then I upgraded the IE 6 back to IE7 which went smoothly, but it starts to d/l and install its patches. But they also failed. This leaves an unpatched IE which tries to update settings when a user session is started. This hangs and the session (all users) fails to start. I cannot use the PC. Its trashed. But I was smart. I made a backup image with Acronis 11 on an external USB drive and made a boot CD. But the boot CD won't start Acronis. Unbelievable. I boot to safe mode. which works, turn on Acronis and start a restore. Which fails with useless error messages completely un referenced on the Acronis website. After an online chat I find that Acronis won't restore in safe mode. Also unbelievable. And that chat person sends me to another email support path. I take a stab at creating another boot CD from safe mode. This works and I was finally able to restore the image to my HD.Liz, The Acronis pathfile switch sounds familiar. I will check that. But wouldn't the system create a new one? I have found Acronis to be cumbersome and overly complicated and now seemingly unreliable. Stay away.Thanks for letting me rant.

Edited January 14, 2008 by bkap

[zlim]

bkap, I like Acronis but on some of my computers the Acronis boot floppies and boot CD hang - it simply won't load Acronis.I'm not sure if I can mention the solution here so check your personal messages.

[bkap]

Solved!! I found a forum item in windows annoyances which went on several years until someone did a registry edit to put the pagefile in a new directory. I added c:\p\ HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\PagingFiles Select PagingFiles then change directory. I changed the value to c:\p\pagefile.sys It worked and I can change the size etc. and no more error on log in.By the way the original value is c:\pagefile.sys 0 0. Back in Windows I set it to custom size and it became c:\p\pagefile.sys 3072 3072.I am curious about the 0 0 when the selection was "system managed size" I am wondering if I can get it back to root. hmm Does it matter?

Edited January 31, 2008 by bkap

[bkap]

if you have two partitions, select the 2nd partition as the one for the swap file.unselect the one on c: (leaving no swapfile there)rebootback in, select c: for the swap file and unselect the one on the second partitionrebootif that works, let us know...

Thanks. I don't have another partition or another hard drive. I'm not sure if it's worth creating one just to move the page file. I don't see anything wrong with the page file where it is.I am curious, though, if I can move it back to c:\ Edited February 3, 2008 by bkap