Re: Windows VM Memory Full Issues (Driver locked RAM)

[SerVB]

Hi. Continuing https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/windows-vm-memory-full-issues.90295/ thread as it was marked as solved but it's not actually.


I have the same problem and the same picture in both Windows Task Manager and Proxmox GUI. VirtIO drivers including balloon seem to be installed: when I run the VM, the RAM usage is low and after it becomes higher and higher (without VirtIO drivers, it was the maximum allowed for the VM right away from the start). Actually, it looks very much like caching because programs can be launched. However, some programs are "smart" and check the available RAM prior launching and say that there is no RAM for launching them.

Since I've just installed the VM, I'm not sure that after the reinstall everything will be fixed as for Sheerpython... Could somebody please help me localize the problem?

My best guess is that it's related to incorrectly installed drivers: maybe Windows installed some automatically before I installed VirtIO ones, so some of the latter weren't applied. Which drivers should I check?

Spoiler: Some screenshots of RAM usage and my configuration overall

 

[SerVB]

Created a new separate VM from scratch, just Windows 10 with virtio drivers, but no luck: the same pictrure – RAM grows higher and higher for some time and then it stops growing at almost full consumption.

 

[SerVB]

Also asked here: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/pfv631/proxmox_windows_vm_ram_usage_grows_higher_and/.

It was suggested to use RAMMap and now I see that the most of the RAM is marked as Driver locked:

 

[Deleted member 116138]

I have a similar Problem with Windows 10 Build 21H1 on PVE 7.0-11.

Memory was set to 16GB max, 4GB minimum (ballooning). With all virtual drivers installed the VM began to consume more and more memory - even when it was idle. Tried different versions of the VirtIO drivers, wiped and reinstalled the VM with no luck.

In the end I changed the memory from ballooning to static and removed the balloon entry with the VM's conf file. One thing I had to leave within the VM: the ballooning service to report back the correct amount of memory used within Windows to PVE.

 

[Prochor]

One on one situation.
My conclusions and examples of settings.

 

[Deleted member 116138]

What’s another approach is to uncheck the option „Use my sign-in info…“ in the account settings. I had several W10 installs where this preactivated option led to growing RAM usage.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-restart-a0dadce5-dca1-1c4d-ce14-a0f480f3265e

 

[ynmcgm]

One on one situation.
My conclusions and examples of settings.

View attachment 35892

View attachment 35893

View attachment 35894

Bingo! My expericence:
1. PVE VM Memory set: no mater dynamic or static memory size. Mine is min 6GB, Max 16GB
2. Balloon service is not running by default, that's the key point! Set to auto start, restart computer, OK!

Thanks @Prochor

 

[Dmitry_Anatolevich]

Actually, it's not a mistake at all. This is how proxmox tells the VM that there is no memory on the host. Glitches can be caused by an old balloning driver.
The solution is simple - install a fresh virtio-win driver on all win machines on the host, for example on 2021 server this https://fedorapeople.org/groups/vir...ownloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.248-1/ works.