Hyper-V: Windows 7 should be configured with at least the minimum amount of memory

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

This topic is intended to address a specific issue identified by a Best Practices Analyzer scan. You should apply the information in this topic only to computers that have had the Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer run against them and are experiencing the issue addressed by this topic. For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer.

Operating System

Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Product/Feature

Hyper-V

Severity

Error

Category

Configuration

Note

An update is available for Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. The update is appropriate for servers that run Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and that have the Hyper-V BPA installed. The update includes addresses issues between the Hyper-V BPA and new features that were introduced in SP1. This update also fixes several other issues in BPA. For more information, see article 2485986 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Issue

A virtual machine running Windows 7 is configured with less than the minimum amount of RAM, which is 512 MB.

Impact

The guest operating system on the following virtual machines might not run or might run unreliably: <list of virtual machine names>

Resolution

Use Hyper-V Manager to increase the memory allocated to this virtual machine to at least 512 MB.

By default, membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. However, an administrator can use Authorization Manager to modify the authorization policy so that a user or group of users can complete this procedure. For more information, see Using Authorization Manager for Hyper-V Security (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=142886).

To increase the memory allocated to a virtual machine

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

  2. In the results pane, under Virtual Machines, select the virtual machine that you want to configure. The state of the virtual machine should be listed as Off. If it is not, right-click the virtual machine and then click Shut Down.

  3. In the Action pane, under the virtual machine name, click Settings.

  4. In the navigation pane, click Memory.

  5. On the Memory page, set the Startup RAM to at least 512 MB and then click OK.

Additional references

For more information about memory and other requirements for Windows 7, see Windows 7: System Requirements (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167201).