How to Configure the Amount of Memory for a Virtual Machine

  • Article

You can configure the memory for a virtual machine by creating or modifying a Virtual Machine Manager hardware profile. These settings specify the amount of memory on a host that you want to allocate to any virtual machine created from the settings on this hardware profile.

Before You Start

The following procedure assumes one of the following:

  • You are creating a new stand-alone hardware profile and are configuring the Hardware Settings tab.
  • You are configuring hardware profile settings on the Configure Hardware page of the New Template Wizard or the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
  • You are configuring the properties of an existing stand-alone hardware profile on its Hardware Settings tab or are configuring an existing template or virtual machine on the Hardware Configuration tab.

To configure the memory setting for a virtual machine

  1. In the left pane, under Hardware Profile, click Memory, and then either accept the default setting for memory (512 MB) or modify the setting as follows:

    Virtual machine memory (MB). Specify, in megabytes (MB), the total amount of memory on the host that you want to assign to a virtual machine that is created by using this hardware profile. You can specify values in the range from 4 MB up to 3712 MB. The maximum recommended value is 3340 MB.

  2. To save the settings, do one of the following:

    Option 1: If this hardware profile is a new or existing stand-alone hardware profile, click Apply to save the settings.

    Option 2: If this hardware profile is on the Configure Hardware page in the New Virtual Machine Wizard or the New Template Wizard (and you have completed any other settings you want to configure on this hardware profile), click Next to save the settings and continue to the next page. Alternatively, to save your settings not only in this wizard but also as a stand-alone profile, click Save Profile, type a name in the Name field on the General tab (and, optionally, change any other settings); click Apply, click OK to return to the Configure Hardware page; click Next to continue to the next wizard page, and then complete the wizard as usual.

    Option 3: If this hardware profile is on the properties page of an existing virtual machine or template, click Apply to save the settings.

See Also

Concepts

About Hardware Profiles
How to Add and Configure Network Adapters for a Virtual Machine
How to Add and Configure SCSI Adapters for a Virtual Machine
How to Configure CPU Requirements for a Virtual Machine
How to Configure IDE Devices for a Virtual Machine
How to Configure the Floppy Drive for a Virtual Machine
How to Configure Virtual Machine Priority for Host CPU Resources