Microsoft KB Archive/171402

= Help/About Does Not Report More Than 2 GB of RAM =

Article ID: 171402

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q171402



SYMPTOMS
When you select About Windows NT from the Help menu of a Windows NT Explorer interface window, memory available to Windows NT only reports 2 GB of RAM even though more than 2 GB of memory is installed. Windows NT Task Manager's Performance tab and Windows NT Diagnostics Memory tab both report the correct amount of RAM. This only appears after installing Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3.



CAUSE
This is a known problem and is simply a reporting error. Windows NT is accessing and using all of the memory installed in the computer, as seen by Windows NT Task Manager's Performance tab and Windows NT Diagnostics' Memory tab.



MORE INFORMATION
During testing, it was found that some applications functioned incorrectly when having access to more than 2 GB of memory. The incorrect reporting of the amount of RAM installed over 2 GB was intentionally implemented to allow applications, which were written for a maximum of 2 GB of RAM, to function properly.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0 Service Pack 3. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Keywords: kbbug kbpending kbui KB171402

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