"Your system is low on virtual memory" error message when you try to start an Office 2003 program (826513)


The information in this article applies to:

  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows XP
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Student and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003

SYMPTOMS

When you start any of the Microsoft Office 2003 programs, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following error message:
Your system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows runs properly, increase the size of your virtual memory paging file. For more information, see Help.
If you click OK, you may receive the following error message:
Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if you try to start any of the programs included in Office on a computer where the paging file value setting is too low.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, increase the size of the paging file. To do so, follow these steps as appropriate for your operating system.

Windows 2000

  1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  2. In the System Properties dialog box, click Advanced
  3. Click Performance Options.
  4. In the Virtual memory pane, click Change to increase the paging file.

    Windows 2000 requires an Initial value of 126 MB for debugging.
  5. After you change the setting, click Set, and then click OK.
  6. In the System Control Panel Applet dialog box, click OK to the following message:The changes you have made require you to restart your computer before they can take effect.
  7. Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.
  8. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes.

Windows XP

  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
  3. In the Performance pane, click Settings.
  4. In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
  5. In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.
  6. Change the Initial size value and the Maximum size value to a higher value, click Set, and then click OK.
  7. Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.

MORE INFORMATION

With virtual memory, the computer can use hard disk space as random access memory (RAM). The computer uses virtual memory to augment the ordinary RAM that is installed on the computer. If you reduce the size of the paging file, the Office program may not start correctly or may not start at all. This behavior may occur even if the computer has a large RAM. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

310312 Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:2/13/2006
Keywords:kbProgramming kbprb kberrmsg KB826513 kbAudEndUser
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.