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UWF and the Paging File

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Monday, December 12, 2016 6:08 PM

Hello,

I have built an image on Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB and I need to add a Paging file to this image.  I have found that by default paging files are turned on and are set to "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives".  The problem that I am running into is that if I then enable the Unified Write Filter, the paging files get disabled, or at least they appear to.

Can someone tell me how I should setup my paging files so that when I enable my write filter the paging file still works?

By the way, my system has two Volumes C and D.  I am only using the write filter on the C drive.  I have tried adding the paging file to the D drive, but when I look at the paging file setup page after enabling the write filter it shows "No paging file" for the D drive.  

Thanks,

Eric

All replies (13)

Monday, December 12, 2016 7:55 PM âś…Answered

Hi Eric,

Potentially the order is important. Without UWF can you move the pagefile D: and have it stick?

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Monday, December 12, 2016 7:41 PM

Hi Eric,

This behavior is by design.  Please see the following documentation: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/mt572001%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

The first time you enable UWF on your device, UWF makes the following changes to your system to improve the performance of UWF:

  • Paging files are disabled.
  • System restore is disabled.
  • SuperFetch is disabled.
  • File indexing service is turned off.
  • Fast boot is disabled.
  • Defragmentation service is turned off.
  • BCD setting bootstatuspolicy is set to ignoreallfailures.

You can change these settings after you turn on UWF if you want to. For example, you can move the page file location to an unprotected volume and re-enable paging files.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Monday, December 12, 2016 7:45 PM

Thank you for your response.  I had already seen the article on that page.  That is why I tried to put the Page File on the D drive of my system which is not being protected with UWF.  However, after I set this up, enabled UWF and restarted the system it shows "No paging file" on the D Drive.

So does that mean it does not allow that?  Or does that mean it is working, but it just doesn't show it?

Thanks,

Eric

Monday, December 12, 2016 8:17 PM

Ok, so I think it was because I had chosen "System managed size"  When I changed this to custom, it stuck after turning on the UWF.

Monday, December 12, 2016 8:39 PM

Hi Eric,

You mean System Managed Size for the Paging file does not work?  Can you clarify as I don't believe that should be an issue.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Monday, December 12, 2016 8:51 PM

You are correct...I must have messed up my setup the first time.  So here is what I just did:

  1. Disabled UWF
  2. Rebooted
  3. Set page file to System Managed Size on D drive
  4. Rebooted
  5. Checked page file and found it was still setup right
  6. Enabled UWF
  7. Rebooted
  8. Checked page file again, and again I found that it was set correctly.

So again, I must have messed up when I initially set it up.

Thanks,

Eric

Monday, December 12, 2016 11:05 PM

Hi Eric,

So setting up the moved pagefile first and confirming the move *then* setting the UWF was the answer.  The order of such a set up is incredibly important.  Just to confirm, you are able to have the system managed size now, correct?

Sincerely,

IoTGirl 

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 2:29 PM

Yes, with the UWF enabled I now have the Page File going to the D drive (not protected by UWF) and I was able to set it to use "System Managed Size".

Thanks,

Eric

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 4:21 PM

Hi Eric,

Many thanks for the confirmation!

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 4:23 PM

Thank you, for all your help!!

Eric

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 4:25 PM

You are very welcome!!

Friday, November 23, 2018 2:24 PM

Hello,

I have  enabled UWF in Windows 10 Enterprise 1803 and I need to add a Paging file to this OS.  I have found that by default paging files are turned on and are set to "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives".  The problem that I am running into is that if I enable the Unified Write Filter, the paging files get disabled, or at least they appear to even though I have configured the page file to unprotected volume. 

So here is what I just did:

  1. Disabled UWF
  2. Rebooted
  3. Set page file to System Managed Size on D drive
  4. Rebooted
  5. Checked page file and found it was still setup right
  6. Enabled UWF & Checked the setting were messed up.
  7. Rebooted
  8. Checked page file again, and I found that it was setting were messed up.

The same is working fine for me in Windows 10 Enterprise 1709 with same configuration. I have tried this on both type of overlays (Disk & RAM).

Can someone tell me how I should setup my paging files so that when I enable my write filter the paging file still works in particularly Windows 10 Enterprise 1803.

Thanks,

Deep

Monday, June 24, 2019 3:48 PM

I know this is an old post and maybe not relevant anymore, but I had the same issue.  I was able to resolve it by:

1.  Enable UWF.  This will immediately set the page file to None.

2.  Set page file to unprotected volume.

3.  *Then* reboot.  The page file was set properly after that.