What happens if I delete pagefile.sys?

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Electrolyzed

Electrolyzed

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Jul 12, 2014
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What does deleting pagefile.sys do?

I've tried Google'ing this question since it's such a simple question, but all the results show up as "is it safe/dangerous to delete pagefile.sys."

I don't want to know if it's safe/dangerous. I want to know what will happen if pagefile.sys is deleted.

 
Solution
bootcher
Pagefile.sys is the file windows uses when you run out of ram, it is the virtual ram of your pc. Instead of using your ram windows writes data to the harddrive wehn your ram is full. You can try to delete it, but you usually can't, it is a windows protected file. Needless to say it is not safe to delete, it would cause instability to delete it.
You can disable the virtual ram if you have more than enough ram and don't want the backup windows virtual ram enabled.
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I don't know for sure... but I would think your Windows Explorer would stop responding and you'd be forced to restart. If it resets upon restarting is a mystery. You may be forced to reinstall Windows if it doesn't restart upon the next boot.
 
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Do not delete the pagefile.sys. All recent versions of windows require it to run properly. That file creates a pool of virtual memory that the operating system uses. This memory is in addition to the physical RAM you have installed. You can adjust the amount created or leave it to windows to adjust the pool size as it needs. Back in the days of Windows 3.X things were very different and if you installed the max 4gigs of RAM the OS could use, some users deleted the virtual in an attempt to force windows to use the "faster" physical RAM. The virtual pool is created on the HDD and does take some space. In days gone by HDD were not as large as they are today (250gig was a BIG drive) so users were trying to free up as much storage space as well. Today's modern OS have access to more physical RAM, Video dedicated RAM and larger/faster HDD. The OS uses the virtual memory only as it needs for its' function. If you delete it, it can cause crashes in the OS. Why would you want to BTW?
 
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Well I have done all kinds of testing on the pagefile.sys and can confirm that your computer will not stop working or performing normal tasks if you delete it. However it will become quite unstable and simple things like opening website with flash content or watching high res videos may show the dreaded "out of memory" message. Also playing games and stuff will be very difficult as they may keep on crashing. The pagefile basically stores some files that the RAM offloads on the HDD because they are too large or infrequently used by the system (that's oversimplifying it though). Deleting it may make your system feel a wee bit quicker since all programmes will run from the RAM instead of some of them running from the slower HDD. But the speed gain is not worth the instability it causes to the OS. Hope this answers your question.
 
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Pagefile.sys is the file windows uses when you run out of ram, it is the virtual ram of your pc. Instead of using your ram windows writes data to the harddrive wehn your ram is full. You can try to delete it, but you usually can't, it is a windows protected file. Needless to say it is not safe to delete, it would cause instability to delete it.
You can disable the virtual ram if you have more than enough ram and don't want the backup windows virtual ram enabled.
 
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Solution
I do agree with dogsnake and that's what I had said before. For gaining a bit disk space and maybe some programs opening a wee bit quicker, you get a very unstable system (no matter how much RAM you got). Not worth it.
 
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Well, to keep it simple it is primarily a virtual backup of the ram. Disabling it can make your system actually perform worse, and even with enough ram can cause system instability. Disabling the pagefile also will not stop windows from writing ram data to other files on disk. If interested here is a more complete explanation:
http://azius.com/blog/pagefile-yes1/
 
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You can disable pagefile.sys by opening

System


In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.

Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change.


From here do what you want from here theres a option to disable it if wanted

 
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