Expanding Memory for running Windows

[strawberrious]

I am on a iMac running Snow Leopard, with VirtualBox running Windows. Recently I upgraded my RAM (from 4gb to 12) and now under System Settings, I have much more "green" memory capacity for my machine. However I have tried utilizing this new capacity, and VIrtualBox crashes. I have attached my log file. Any help would be appreciated!

**Probably obvious, but I am not a computer whiz by any stretch of the imagination so go easy on me!

[noteirak]

My first suggestion would be to reduce the allocated RAM of the VM - 1 GB for XP, 2 GB for Vista or newer and see what happens.

[strawberrious]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I set it back to my original settings (2 gb for windows 7, 32 bit) and it runs fine.

However I would like to get a little more capacity now that it is available. In trying to figure this out prior to posting, I read that 32 bit has a max of 2gb allocation, but other places said this is not true. For me, anything above the limit I set when I set my machine crashes.

[strawberrious]

Additionally, I have found that the max is around 3000 mb. Anything more and it crashes after going through the Windows Start Up screen. The max that I can set the slider is around 3500, so I am not so concerned about performance now, as I am curious about what is going on. (And perhaps this could be helpful for others)

[noteirak]

Typically, Virtualbox requires contiguous memory space to allocated the RAM for the guest.
You are not the first one to mention this, but it may look like OS X or some common program is locking memory and that amount is the only real free contiguous memory you have.

But before going there, I see that your guest additions are quite out of date (4.1.x) for your 4.2.6 install.
Could you upgrade them using the Virtualbox Additions ISO and give this another try with 3.5 or 4 GB RAM?

[strawberrious]

Ok I did that (at least I think, is there an easy way to verify?)

But still the same issues.

[Perryg]

Funny thing about multi-bit kernels and VBox. x86 will only be able to use 3GB in a guest. Start the Mac in 64-bit and see if the memory allocation will work at 4GB and above.

[strawberrious]

Got it to work! Running with 4gb RAM out of 12 now, and could go higher if I wanted.

Interestingly, before (in 32bit) the slider went from all green 4mb to 3.5gb. In 64bit it changed to the gradated slider 4mb to 12gb (my current RAM amount).

Thanks very much noteirak and Perryg! (if those are in fact your real names)