2 GB limit
The 2 GB limit refers to a physical memory barrier for a process running on a 32-bit operating system, which can only use a maximum of 2 GB of memory.[1] The problem mainly affects 32-bit versions of operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Linux, although some variants of the latter can overcome this barrier.[citation needed] It is also found in servers like FTP servers or embedded systems like Xbox.[citation needed] The use of Physical Address Extension (PAE) can help overcome this barrier.[clarification needed]
While Linux, FreeBSD, and most Unix-like operating systems support PAE so long as the hardware does,[2][3] Windows needs this boot option enabled manually. This is known as 4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), or the /3GB switch. Once enabled, executables can have the "large address aware" flag set to increase their memory limit to 3 GB. 32-bit processes on 64-bit Windows are also limited to 2 GB. However, they can use the "large address aware" flag as well, except that it doesn't require the /3GB switch and increases the limit to 4 GB.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Richardson, Mike (2014-07-24). "Overcoming the Windows 2GB Caching Limit". O'Reilly Media. Archived from the original on 2015-09-13. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "2.3.23-pre4 x86 64 GB RAM changes [HIGHMEM patch] explained a bit". 1999-10-10. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
- ^ "Chapter 4. Hardware Compatibility". Retrieved 2017-09-17.
- ^ "Memory Limits for Windows and Windows Server Releases". Microsoft. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
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