Question

install SBS 2008 on a box with less than 4 GB RAM?

Asked by: itprotocall

is there any way to force the SBS 2008 Std/Pre install to work on a machine with less than 4GB RAM?

This is needed for testing purpose only. i have an old box with 2GB RAM and a pentium-D processor 3 Ghz. just need to get this working for some compatibility testing.

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Asked On
2009-07-30 at 03:12:02ID24612413
Tags

SBS 2008 RAM

Topics

SBS Small Business Server

,

Windows Server 2008

,

Windows 64-bit

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3
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: Oliver-PPosted on 2009-07-30 at 03:47:25ID: 24978332

Hi,

I read somewhere (I think it was from the blog of susan Bradley, the "SBS diva") that there were reports of SBS 2008 running on test machines with only 2GB RAM (?)
On a different post, it was stated that the real min it could run was with 3.6GB.

Are you blocked by the setup detecting less than 4GB? If not, I'd just try and see how it goes (very slow I believe :) ... that's just a test machine anyway.

 

by: itprotocallPosted on 2009-07-30 at 04:37:45ID: 24978615

"Are you blocked by the setup detecting less than 4GB?"

YES, the setup does not let me proceed because of lack of memory...

 

by: Oliver-PPosted on 2009-07-30 at 10:21:50ID: 24982124

If this function is hard coded in the setup program, it should be hard (and illegal) to bypass this check. OTOH, if it's just a value to change in some kind of associated file, you'd just need to find this specific file and modify the value from 4096 MB to 2048...

Can't help you here, sorry.

 

by: Oliver-PPosted on 2009-07-30 at 10:22:55ID: 24982132

What about adding 2 GB from another machine just to install and remove the sticks when done?

 

by: itprotocallPosted on 2009-07-31 at 03:39:22ID: 24987571

thanks for the advice Oliver-P but i do not have a spare RAM at this point, what i was looking for is some tweak like you said:

"just a value to change in some kind of associated file, you'd just need to find this specific file and modify the value from 4096 MB to 2048..."

 

by: itprotocallPosted on 2009-08-10 at 04:37:57ID: 25058924

i am keeping this open in hope that there is some 'tweak' out there...

anyone been able to successfully install 2008 SBS on a 2GB RAM system?

 

by: peakpotentialsPosted on 2009-08-24 at 09:01:27ID: 25169655

The official word from Microsoft is that it will not install if you have less than 4Gb of RAM.

Having said that I purchased 4GB of OCZ Brand memory for my test laptop and tried to install  SBS 2008 and it still gave me an error saying there is insufficient memory. What could be wrong?

Is it possible that certain brands of memory, even though they say they are 4GB that they may be slightly under? Some kind of margin of error?

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2009-08-29 at 22:27:29ID: 25216440

"i am keeping this open in hope that there is some 'tweak' out there... "

Please don't.  There isn't a "tweak" to get around this restriction.  You MUST have 4GB of RAM for the installation to even begin.  The beta version of SBS-2008 DID allow installations with just 2GB, but that is no longer possible.

Why don't you just get 2GB additional RAM?  If the Motherboard won't accommodate it, you can get a cheap enough LGA775 MoBo to put your PentiumD processor in (less than $45 + about $40 for the additional RAM).  I wouldn't use that level of quality for a production server, but it should be fine for testing purposes.

peakpotentials:  If your laptop is showing less than 4GB, then your Video Card is most likely taking some and you will need to install more than 4GB to compensate (if the laptop even accommodates more than 4GB, otherwise you cannot install SBS 2008 on that machine).

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: itprotocallPosted on 2009-09-01 at 04:27:03ID: 25230343

thanks for the tips Jeff... i guess i have to get my hands on a new MoBo and put in some more RAM.

cheers!

 

by: itprotocallPosted on 2009-09-01 at 04:28:53ID: 31609680

thanks for the tips!

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