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Windows Server 2012 R2 installation fails because of page file settings on systems that have large memory

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Symptoms

When you try to deploy or install Windows Server 2012 R2, you may notice that the installation is stuck on a black screen.

This issue can occur if the system has a very large memory installed (for example, 256 gigabytes [GB] or more) and the system drive is of lower capacity (for example, 50 GB).

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Cause

This issue occurs because the default behavior of the Automatically Manage Page File Size option incorrectly allocates space beyond the limit of the disk.

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Workaround

To work around this issue, reduce the amount of physical memory before you install Windows Server 2012 R2, and increase the size of the operating system disk. Or relocate the page file to a disk that has sufficient storage.

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More Information

For testing
If your system has 512 GB of RAM and 50 GB of system drive, when you try to install Windows, a 43-GB page file is created. This can fill up the drive and cause the installation of Windows to fail.

This behavior is improved in Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2016 creates a 6-GB page file for a system that has the same configuration.

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Keywords: kbexpertiseadvanced, kbsurveynew, kbtshoot, kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 3114800
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 11/17/2015
Exists online : False
Views : 259