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2 Replies Last post: Apr 21, 2008 12:49 PM by BL  
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BL
2 posts since
Apr 9, 2008

Apr 9, 2008 12:08 PM

Host OS' affect on available memory for Virtual Machines


This may be a very elementary question but I'm interested to know how the host operating system affects available system memory for Virtual Machines.

For instance if the host OS is a 32 bit version of Windows and the hardware in the server has 8 MB of RAM, is only 4 MB of the hosts machine's RAM available to support virtual machines or is the entire 8 MB of RAM available?

Like wise, if the host OS is a 64 bit version of Windows and the hardware in the server has 16 MB of RAM, is only 8 MB of the hosts machine's RAM avalable to support virtual machiens or is the entire 16 MB of RAM available?

Tags: virtual, vmware, windows
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Oliphant
26 posts since
Mar 7, 2008
1. Apr 15, 2008 9:54 AM in response to: BL
Re: Host OS' affect on available memory for Virtual Machines

Whenever you install vmware upto v3 it takes a portion of the memory for itself and the rest is avilable to the rest of the system.

This is what vmware suggested for version 2.1:

kernel gets 24mb

service console:

192mb for upto 8 clients
272mb for upto 16 clients
and 512 for over 32 clients

The rest of the memory will can be shared between the clients

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BL
2 posts since
Apr 9, 2008
2. Apr 21, 2008 12:49 PM in response to: Oliphant
Re: Host OS' affect on available memory for Virtual Machines

This is interesting but it doesn't answer my question. If I have a 32bit Windows XP computer, Windows XP will only recognize up to 3 GB of RAM. If the hardware has 8 GB of RAM and I install VMWare and then 64bit Windows XP, will the 64bit Windows XP have access to 3 or 8 GB of RAM?

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