Is your Windows 2003 Server missing memory?

 

Computers are being designed with a 64-bit architecture.  Most likely the operating system you are loading is 32-bit.  32-bit operating systems have a limitation on how much physical memory it can address. 

You can fix this quickly and easily if you are not planning on upgrading to a 64-bit OS.   The following should only apply to Windows 2003 Server 32-bit Standard and Enterprise.

1. Open Windows Explorer or Double click on My Computer
2. Click once or Double click on C:
3. Click on Tools then Folder Options
4. Click the View tab
5. Un-check Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
6. Click Yes
7. Click OK
8. You should see a file called boot.ini on your C: drive
9. Right click on boot.ini and select Properties
10. Uncheck Read Only then click OK
    Now open boot.ini using Notepad or Wordpad
11. You should see a line that looks similar to the below:

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=”Windows Server 2003, Enterprise” /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

    add the following switch before /fastdetect:

    /pae

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=”Windows Server 2003, Enterprise” /noexecute=optout /pae /fastdetect

    Click File then Save
    Click File then Exit

    Reboot your server and confirm that all the memory is now available.

    You can follow steps 1 – 7 to Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)