How to use all the RAM in Windows 10

Over the past few days, you've noticed that your computer slows down noticeably when running certain programs. Suspecting this behavior, which didn't exist before, you opened the System screen in Windows 10 to check if the operating system was correctly identifying the RAM installed on your computer.

There he was in for a bitter surprise: apparently, Windows could no longer use all the available memory, which explained the significant drop in performance. To solve the problem, he opened Google looking for a guide that could give you the right solution, and ended up here on my site.

You are in the right place at the right time! I'm going to tell you How to use all the RAM in Windows 10 using the options offered by the Microsoft operating system.

Specifically, I'll explain how to override read restrictions on startup, how to interact with your graphics card in the case of shared memory, and finally how to "fix" any RAM errors. I'll also look at usable RAM on 10-bit Windows 32.

You can also read: 6 Best Programs To Improve My PC Performance

How do I know how much RAM I have?

To use all the RAM we need to know the capacity of my RAM. Click "Start" at the bottom of your desktop, then right-click on “My Computer” and select “Properties«. When you click on Properties you will find several characteristics of your computer, including the amount of RAM installed.

How to Use All RAM in Windows 10 32-bit

Before we get to that, let me point out one very important detail: keep in mind that there are programs on the Internet that allow you to free up your computer's RAM in just a few clicks.

However, as I explain in my guide to freeing up memory, these programs are not useful for the purposes of this guide. They allow you to close programs that are no longer needed "on the fly" and thus temporarily increase system performance, but without increasing the total amount of memory available to Windows.

However, if you intend Use all the RAM on a Windows 10 computer out of 32 bits, you should be aware of some of the limitations of this operating system.

How do I know if my Windows is 32-bit?

Before we illustrate this, let's make sure that you have a 32-bit version of Windows 10. However, you can do this in a very simple way. First of all:

• Right-click on the button Windows Start (the pennant icon in the lower-left corner of the screen) and select System from the menu that opens.
• Check the technical specifications section of the device and make sure you are copying a 32-bit operating system by looking at the system type.
• Then, Always check the amount of RAM installed in the system in the same section: If your total installed memory is 4GB or more, Windows 10 lists only 3,5GB as usable memory.

Other details

Is this really the case? I guess I don't have any good news for you: this may seem strange, but as I explained before, this Windows behavior is quite normal if your OS copy is 32-bit.

This is due to some "natural" limitations of the OS 32 bits, which, as always, cannot recognize more than 4 GB of memory (from which a small part must be deducted for the exclusive use of the operating system).

This limitation cannot be circumvented unless a 64-bit version of Windows is installed, which can handle much more memory. A prerequisite is that the computer has a 64-bit processor.

You can always check it easily in the system properties (which you opened earlier) by looking at the “System type” entry – if it is a 64-bit processor, you will find the “x64-based processor” entry right after the Windows version description.

Once verified, simply download the Windows 10 ISO file from the official Microsoft website, create the installation media (USB or DVD) that suits you best and proceed with the installation of the operating system, selecting the 64-bit version if necessary.

How to use all RAM in 64-bit Windows

The information I provided above is not helpful because your computer is running Windows 10 64-bit?

If so, the reason for unused RAM probably lies somewhere else. Below we will explain under what circumstances these situations most often occur, and what corrective measures should be taken in such cases.

Again, as we've already said, you should avoid so-called free RAM programs, i.e. programs that can clean up your operating system's memory with a single click. They temporarily boost Windows performance, but they don't increase the amount of RAM the operating system can support.

1. Remove startup restrictions

In some cases, the amount of memory that can be allocated to Windows 10 may be limited by the operating system's own startup settings. Solving this problem is not too difficult:

• Access Windows startup settings and disable the memory limitation option.
• To do this, press the Win + R key combination (or open the Start menu or, failing that, the Cortana search bar).
• Enter the command msconfig in the text field that appears on the screen and press Enter on your keyboard.
• In the new window, go to the Startup Preferences tab (see above), Click on Advanced and uncheck the maximum memory box.
• Last, close all open windows by clicking OK and restarting your computer.

If all went well, the problem should be resolved: To make sure, right-click the Windows 10 Start button, select System from the menu that appears, and check that the amount of memory in use matches the amount of memory installed on your computer.

2. Reduce the amount of memory allocated to your graphics card

Another reason why you can't use all the memory in Windows 10 64-bit could be because you're using an integrated graphics card. Since it doesn't have its own memory, it uses the computer's RAM to communicate quickly with the processor.

In general, integrated graphics cards consume between 8 and 128 MB of RAM, a fairly small amount that can affect the performance of computers with little memory (2 GB or less).

If required, You can reduce the amount of memory allocated to your graphics card to the minimum possible (usually 8 MB) by changing your computer's BIOS/UEFI settings. However, in this case you may experience some lag when using programs that require low video processing speed.

Tutorial

With that out of the way, it's time to get down to business. To access the UEFI settings:

• Open the Windows 10 Start menu and while holding down the Shift key / Shift on the keyboard, press the “Exit” button followed by the “Reset system” button.
• After a few seconds, a menu should appear with options to boot and restore operating system.
• If so, Click on the Troubleshooting icons, Advanced Options and UEFI Firmware Options.
• Last, click Continue and wait for your computer to restart.

Alternative procedure

If you are unable to access the UEFI using the above procedure, your computer is likely using a BIOS that is an “old” version of the computer’s original manager. If this is the case, you can use an alternative procedure and restore the administrator at computer startup. For that:

• Turn on your computer and, after the manufacturer's logo appears (but before Windows starts), Press the Del or F2 key on your keyboard several times until the BIOS screen appears.
• Please note that the key combinations to be pressed may vary depending on the computer manufacturer. If the above methods do not work, try replacing the Del or F2 key with F6, F9, or F10.
• In UEFI or BIOS You will find a series of settings that allow you to control the devices installed on your computer (hard drives, processors, graphics cards, integrated network cards, etc.).
• To access the settings for shared memory with the video card, access Advanced Settings and then to Integrated Device Settings.
• After pressing the Enter key to open the corresponding section, select the Shared Memory Size / Shared Video Memory Size section
• Use the (-) key to reduce the amount of video memory occupied by RAM to the desired size (minimum is 8 MB).

After making the changes, just save them and exit BIOS/UEFI: Return to the main screen by pressing Esc several times and select Save and Exit Setup from the menu or press the Save key (usually F10).

Note: On some computers it is possible to use UEFI with a mouse.

3. Checking the integrity of the RAM

As I mentioned above, you have strictly followed the information I have provided in this guide but unfortunately the problem still persists?

As a last resort, I suggest you check all the RAM banks installed on your computer are working properly. To do this, you can use Memtest86, a free program that can be used from a CD-ROM or USB flash drive and is capable of analyzing and detecting any RAM problems.

• To use it, go to this page and click on the Download link – Precompiled bootable ISO (.zip), which is the latest version of the program.
• Once you have the Memtest86 package, extract it to the desired folder and burn the ISO image to a USB flash drive using a program like UNetbootin.
• You can also burn the Memtest86 image to a CD using the windows recording assistant.
• Right click on the previously extracted ISO image and select Record from the menu.
• Then Insert the blank CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive and click Record to start the process immediately.
• Once the CD is created, leave it connected to the computer and restart – in most cases Memtest86 should start automatically instead of Windows.
• If not, restart your computer, connect it to BIOS / UEFI and set it to Boot from a USB flash drive or CD.

After running Memtest86, you don't need to do anything else. The program automatically runs several tests to check if the RAM is working properly. If an error has occurred, the text is highlighted in red and information is given about the memory area and the type of test where the error occurred.

To terminate Memtest86, restart your computer, taking care to remove any drives that were used to run the program. You can press the ESC key on your keyboard at any time to continue.

If the test is positive, it is very likely that the RAM read error is caused by RAM corruption. In this case, you should consider purchasing a new memory.

What does full RAM usage give us?

In Windows 10, we can use various applications and programs which are very useful for our use but some of them are not working properly or just not working at all as full use of RAM helps us to make the applications work properly and efficiently for our use.

We can also make various configurations and adjustments that help us achieve better performance using all the RAM memory.. It is important to use all the RAM because it allows you to run installed applications or programs.

Why is it better to install more RAM?

The RAM installed in your computer. As we have already explained, RAM is responsible for running programs and applications. This means that if you install more RAM, your computer will perform better and be able to use more programs and applications.

More than 4GB RAM is recommended for Windows 10 operating system in 64-bit version. Windows 10 takes up a lot of space, so it is better to install 8GB RAM, this way you will not have any performance issues and it will help your processor to run better. (Learn more about your processor.)

What does RAM size depend on?

What limits the amount of RAM it can support is the motherboard, there are 2 variables such as the number of GB supported and the speed in mhz at which the board runs. For the mhz there is not much problem, if our motherboard has a bandwidth lower or higher than the mhz of the ram memory, the plate will limit the speed and it will work with the default settings.

What is problematic is the amount or limit of RAM in GB, since if it is more than what the motherboard supports, the RAM and the card will not work, which will undoubtedly affect the programs, the installed applications and the performance of the computer.

For example, if we have a total of 32GB of RAM and the motherboard only supports 16GB, the RAM will not work properly. Therefore, It is very important to consult the motherboard manufacturer's manual to know the maximum capacity it can offer.

RAM installed in the computer How to free it up?

There are times when our Windows 10 computer does not work well enough and it is because the RAM memory has not been freed. Freeing up RAM is easy and simple, just close the applications that we do not use as it affects the performance and use of the programs.

One way to improve PC performance (although it is not a reliable formula) is to use virtual machine memory, which can help improve performance and provide a more comfortable PC experience.

You can also read: 5 Best Programs to Optimize RAM