Vista runs low or out of memory when copying lots of files

October 16, 2007

Vista runs out of memory when copying files You might think it impossible for a computer with 2GB or 3GB of RAM to actually run out of memory but Vista can do just that when copying large numbers of files.

It’s not just Vista that is at fault, specifically, this particular problem revolves around having Kaspersky version 6 or 7 installed and then copying over 16,400 files at a time.

ZDnet has replicated the issue but I disagree with them that this is something anyone, in the entire home user or corporate world would do, it’s ridiculous.

File size doesn’t matter and the problem can occur if smaller groups of files are selected that exceed 16,400 files.

Along with the “Out of Memory” errors, users can also expect plenty of BSODs (Blue Screens of Death) and multiple reboots before the problem sorts itself out.

A slightly less serious but related problem involves copying 1,500 files which can lead to excess memory use which is not returned until a reboot.

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5 Responses to “Vista runs low or out of memory when copying lots of files”

  1. mgo:

    I’m surprised that so few people (especially computer writers!)know about the built-in Robocopy utility that now comes standard in Vista. (Robocopy was formerly hoarded by IT elitists)

    The Explorer copy/paste in Vista is buggy as heck and Microsoft promises a fix “real soon now”.

    Meantime, I routinely copy over about 25,000 files, some over 1 gig in size using Robocopy and Vista does it very fast with no “out of memory errors”.

    There’s also XXCOPY (freeware) and Syncback (freeware) that will copy zillions of files without trouble in Vista.

    Also, why not just ditch the silly Aero and Flip thingies, and go to the Classic mode on both the desktop and Explorer which will maximize speed when copying.

  2. Jonathan:

    Well, some IT admins might know about Robocopy, as for me, being a humble writer, tend to stay away from Command Line utilities, the only one I use is ipconfig…

    Syncback looks promising…

    Because Aero and Flip are what make, Vista… Vista and I’m always one for eye candy, especially since I have the hardware to run it to the maximum…

    Classic mode is ugly, I thought it was ugly in Windows 2000 and I think it’s ugly now. Though, I do know people that prefer it, I’m not one of them.

    I’m hoping SP1 will fix a number of these issues.

  3. Sobko:

    MS problem, look at
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942435

  4. Graham Thatcher:

    A Kaspersky Lab testing expert identified and communicated this flaw to Microsoft on the 24th April 2007. Following this, Microsoft issued the following information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942435, as well as a hotfix. Kaspersky Lab has clearly shown that this problem lies solely with Microsoft and not with Kaspersky Lab. Kasperskey Lab would recommend that anyone experiencing this problem applies the Microsoft hotfix.

    They should NOT disable their Kaspersky Lab product, as this would leave them vulnerable to attack from malicious code.

  5. Vista fica sem memória quando está copiando arquivos | Windows x Linux:

    [...] Fonte: [vista.blorge.com] [...]

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