Access Violation Occurs When You Use the /MAXMEM Start Switch on 64-bit Versions of Windows Server 2003 on Computers That Have More Than 4GB of RAM (320286)

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, use the Nvrboot.efi utility to change the start switch to use /burnmemory=MemorySize instead of /maxmem=MemorySize.

NOTE: You can use the /burnmemory= start switch on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.

When Windows Server 2003 is installed it creates a Msutil folder in the ESP Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) partition and copies the Nvrboot.efi utility to the Msutil folder.

To add the /burnmemory= switch:

1. Start the computer, and then from the EFI Boot Manager, click to select the option to start in the EFI Shell.
2. Mount the ESP (EFI) partition (FSx, where x is the ESP (EFI) partition).
3. Change to the MSUtil folder. To do so, type cd msutil.
   
   NOTE: You must run this command in the root of the ESP partition.
4. Type nvrboot.efi.
5. Press C, and then click the Windows Server 2003 start entry to which you want to add the /burnmemory switch.
6. Press M to modify a start entry.
7. Click to select the original or the copy that you made in step 5.
8. Click to select option 2, and then type /burnmemory=xxxx (where xxxx is the amount of memory you want Windows Server 2003 to discard).
   
   For example, /burnmemory=6144 instructs Windows Server 2003 to discard 6 GB of the physical memory as unavailable.
9. Press Q to quit Nvrboot.
10. Restart the computer, and then click to select the modified EFI Boot entry.