Windows Memory Management

Memory management in Microsoft Windows operating systems has evolved into a rich and sophisticated architecture, capable of scaling from the tiny embedded platforms (where Windows executes from ROM) all the way up to the multi-terabyte NUMA configurations, taking full advantage of all capabilities of existing and future hardware designs.

With each release of Windows, memory management supports many new features and capabilities. Advances in algorithms and techniques yield a rich and sophisticated code base, which is maintained as a single code base for all platforms and SKUs.

Memory management improvements in Windows Vista focused on areas such as dynamic system address space, enhanced NUMA and large system/page support, advanced video model support, I/O and section access, and robustness and diagnosability.

Memory management improvements in Windows 7 focused on areas such as improved working set management, fine grained page locking, improved ASLR and NX security, NUMA and other high-end server optimizations, and integrated NVRAM support.