Updated November 2026 · 7 min read

Windows 11 Virtual Memory Too Low: Fix in 5 Steps

"Your system is low on virtual memory" is not the same warning as "low on RAM". Virtual memory is the total your machine is allowed to commit: physical RAM plus the pagefile. The message means that total is full — usually because one process keeps asking for memory and never releases it, or because the pagefile has been shrunk or disabled. Fix the number and the cause separately.

What the warning actually means

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) → Performance → Memory and read the Committed line: 11.8/25.6 GB means you are using 11.8 GB of a 25.6 GB limit. That limit is your commit limit = installed RAM + pagefile (plus a small reserve). When usage touches the limit, Windows raises the warning and apps start failing to allocate.

On a 16GB machine with a system-managed pagefile, the limit is typically around 22–27 GB.
On an 8GB machine it can be as low as 9–12 GB — which is why 8GB systems hit this message far more often.
If the limit looks close to your RAM alone, the pagefile is too small or switched off.

Step 1 — Relieve it right now

Close the app that was running when the message appeared. That is almost always the one holding the memory.
If nothing closes normally, Task Manager → Details → right-click the process → End task.
If the desktop itself is unresponsive, Ctrl+Alt+Del → Sign out ends your session and releases everything belonging to it — faster than a reboot.

Step 2 — Let Windows manage the pagefile (or set it properly)

Press Win+R, type sysdm.cpl, press Enter.
Advanced tab → Performance → Settings → Advanced tab → Virtual memory → Change.
Tick Automatically manage paging file size for all drives and click OK. This is the correct setting for almost every PC and removes the "too low" case caused by a manually capped pagefile.
If you need a fixed size (for example on a small SSD), untick the box, choose the drive, Custom size, and set initial and maximum to the same value — 8–16 GB is plenty. A fixed size avoids fragmentation of the pagefile itself.
Click Set, then OK, then reboot for the change to take effect.

Never disable the pagefile to "save space" or "speed things up". Windows uses it for committed allocations even when RAM looks free, and without it the same workload turns into an application crash instead of a slowdown.

Step 3 — Make sure the drive has room

A system-managed pagefile grows only while there is free space on its volume. Settings → System → Storage shows per-drive usage; keeping at least 15–20 GB free on the system drive avoids the situation where the pagefile cannot grow at the moment it is needed. If the drive is nearly full, use Storage → Temporary files and Storage Sense before touching anything else.

Step 4 — Find the process that eats commit

Task Manager → Details tab.
Right-click any column header → Select columns → tick Commit size.
Sort by that column. The top entry is the process asking Windows for the most memory — committed memory counts even pages that are already in the pagefile, so this finds hogs that the "Memory" column hides.
Watch the top three for ten minutes. A number that only climbs is a leak; see how to confirm a memory leak.

Also check Performance → Memory → Non-paged pool. If it is above roughly 1 GB and rising, a driver is leaking, and the fix is a driver update rather than more RAM.

Step 5 — Reduce what runs at the same time

Settings → Apps → Startup: disable updaters, launchers and vendor utilities.
Settings → Apps → Installed apps → (app) → Advanced options → Background apps permissions → Never for apps you open manually.
Browser: Settings → Performance → enable Memory Saver; audit extensions at chrome://extensions.
Containers and virtual machines: shut down the ones you are not using. WSL2 keeps its virtual machine alive and holds memory; wsl --shutdown releases it.

If the warning keeps coming back

Two honest outcomes. If Committed sits near the limit during normal work on an 8GB machine, the machine is under-provisioned: add RAM, because a bigger pagefile only moves the work to disk and makes everything slower. If Committed grows without you doing anything, you have a leak or a driver problem, and the fix is updating or replacing the offender — more RAM only delays it.

Either way, releasing idle pages from apps you must keep open buys immediate headroom. MemoryCleaner lists processes by memory and lets you release idle pages in one click without closing the app — useful before a render or a call you cannot interrupt. It is 2.5 MB, has no ads or bundles, and it is free forever.

Try it before you buy — 30 days, full features, free during the launch promotion.

Download MemoryCleaner

Why the limit looks bigger than my RAM

That is expected: the commit limit includes the pagefile. A 16GB PC reporting a 25.6 GB limit simply has a ~9–10 GB pagefile. If you want a smaller limit for disk-space reasons, set a fixed pagefile rather than disabling it — and re-check that the warning does not return.

For background on what Windows is doing with that memory, see standby memory explained and is 16GB of RAM enough. Downloads and pricing are on the MemoryCleaner homepage.

FAQ

Does increasing virtual memory make Windows 11 faster?

It stops crashes and error dialogs; it does not make RAM-starved work faster, because pagefile access is far slower than RAM. Think of it as a safety net, not a performance upgrade.

Should the pagefile be on an SSD or a hard drive?

SSD. Modern SSDs handle the write volume fine, and the difference in page-in latency between SSD and HDD is the difference between a hitch and a freeze.

Can one app cause the low virtual memory warning?

Yes. A leaking or badly written app can commit tens of gigabytes on its own. Sort the Details tab by Commit size and it will be at the top.