How do I enable the /3GB switch in Vista using EasyBCD?

[shaithis]

Well, I *think* this means its working...someone care to verify? If so, I'll post what I did so others can use it too if needed (like Dangel suggested):



If I'm looking at it correctly, the top boot option and the second one are exactly the same...except the second one uses the UserVA switch as well. Am I looking at this correctly?

Certainly looks like it to me.

[2Cold Scorpio]

Well, more curse them for not giving students the 64bit edition - read what he said

I can't see the sense in that - at all.

Well, its possible it was offered and I was unaware of it. I didn't realize my copy was 32-bit until it was too late. Ah well, I won't make that mistake with Windows 7.

Also, some preliminary testing seems to show that second boot setting with UserVA active is working fine (so far), but i'll have to test it a bit further to be sure.

[dangel]

Good stuff Glad it (looks) like it's sorted. I'll file that one away

[2Cold Scorpio]

It does indeed look like its working. Here's the steps to do it (its pretty easy):

This is for Windows Vista *only*. Also note I did this with UAC in Silent Mode; you might get some UAC prompts while doing this if your UAC is still on and not running in Silent Mode. This shouldn't affect you other than having to click a few extra things.

Part I (Optional) - Create a New Boot Option for dedicated UserVA use
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1. Log in as an Administrator
2. Open the Start menu, type cmd in the Search box, and right-click on cmd.exe and choose "Run as Administrator"
3. Type in: bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Vista with 3GB" (Note: The "Vista with 3GB can be anything you wish; its simply the name that will display in the bootloader)
4. Hit enter; you should get a confirmation that it worked. Reboot to ensure the new option is there; if so, choose it.

Alternative Method: You can easily use EasyBCD to make a new boot option, and simply point it to the same partition as your existing Vista install.

Part II - Enabling UserVA (formerly known as /3GB)
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1. Log in as an administrator using your newly created boot option (if you created one; if not, use your regular boot option. Note that if you only have one boot option in your bootloader, the bootloader is skipped entirely, so you can skip straight to logging in. Be sure you do so as an Administrator.).
2. Open the Start menu, type cmd in the Search box, and right-click on cmd.exe and choose "Run as Administrator"
3. Type in BCDEDIT /Set IncreaseUserVa 3072 (Note: the '3072' can be changed to suit your needs. I would not go below 2600 or higher than 3100 personally. Refer to Microsoft's guidelines on the /3GB & UserVA switches for XP for more information)
--This method will set the UserVA for the boot option currently in use. If you're following my mini-guide, this is what you want, and why I suggested creating a separate boot option so we could have a dedicated boot option for using UserVA.
--If you need to modify a different Vista boot option than the one you are currently using, use this instead: bcdedit /set {Your desired entry's SID} IncreaseUserVa 3072 (Note: replace 'Your desired entry's SID with the SID# for the boot option you wish to modify)
4. Hit Enter; you should get a confirmation message. Reboot. The next time you boot into the modified boot option, it should be using UserVA.
5. If you wish to check whether you did things correctly, simply type bcdedit in the command prompt. The modified boot option should have a userva option, whereas the other one(s) shouldn't. Example:


Part III - Removing UserVA:
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Frankly, the simplest and quickest way to do this if you're using a dedicated boot option for UserVA is to use EasyBCD to delete the UserVA-enabled boot option. However, if you wish to turn it off in the boot option you're currently using without removing that particular boot option (like if you didn't create a dedicated one), do this:
1. Open the Start menu, type in cmd in the Search bar, right-click on cmd.exe and choose "Run as Administrator"
2. At the command prompt, type this: bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa (Note: This disables UserVA for the **current** boot option; make sure you are using the boot option that had userVA enabled before doing this).
3. Hit Enter; you should get a confirmation (this I cannot confirm, as I haven't disabled it yet). Reboot. Now UserVA will be disabled on that boot option.

I hope this helps. Others feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made.

[2Cold Scorpio]

Additional thought: Should I create a new thread containing just the tutorial above? Might be easier to understand that way...