RAM allocation for 64-bit guest

[russm]

I'm trying to install 64-bit Vista in a VM (VBox 2.1, OSX 10.5.6, Xeon-based Xserve, 24GB RAM), but VirtualBox won't let me allocate more than 3584 MB of RAM to the VM... has anyone actually got this to work? without being able to take advantage of more than 4GB RAM, what's the point of being able to run a 64-bit client?

The user manual says that 64-bit guest must be explicitly selected and VT-x/AMD-V support enabled, which I have, but the Base Memory Size config won't accept anything higher than 3584MB...

[russm]

hmmm... and it looks like this isn't just a restriction in the config GUI...

Code: Select all

russm@xserve4:~ $ VBoxManage modifyvm vista-64 -memory 8192
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.0
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

[!] FAILED calling machine->SetMemorySize(memorySize) at line 1651!
[!] Primary RC  = NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057) - Invalid argument value
[!] Full error info present: true , basic error info present: true 
[!] Result Code = NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057) - Invalid argument value
[!] Text        = Invalid RAM size: 8192 MB (must be in range [4, 3584] MB)
[!] Component   = Machine, Interface: IMachine, {ea6fb7ea-1993-4642-b113-f29eb39e0df0}
[!] Callee      = IMachine, {ea6fb7ea-1993-4642-b113-f29eb39e0df0}
russm@xserve4:~ $

so what's the point of being able to run a 64-bit guest if we can't take advantage of over 4GB RAM?

[Jaime.Larios]

root@ / #207.249.232.154> VBoxManage modifyvm solaris64 -memory "5120MB" \
-acpi on -boot1 dvd -nic1 nat
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

[!] FAILED calling machine->SetMemorySize(memorySize) at line 1630!
[!] Primary RC = NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057) - Invalid argument value
[!] Full error info present: true , basic error info present: true
[!] Result Code = NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057) - Invalid argument value
[!] Text = Invalid RAM size: 5120 MB (must be in range [4, 3584] MB)
[!] Component = Machine, Interface: IMachine, {ea6fb7ea-1993-4642-b113-f29eb39e0df0}
[!] Callee = IMachine, {ea6fb7ea-1993-4642-b113-f29eb39e0df0}