After doing a clean install of Server 2008 R2 STD I installed SQL 2005 and all relevant SQL & windows updates. Realizing I wanted the ability to hot add memory as is avaliable with Enterprise I followed the directions here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/server_core/archive/2009/10/14/upgrading-windows-server-2008-r2-without-media.aspx to upgrade to enterprise. Windows reports it is genuine and running server 2008 R2 Enterprise. However I can not address more than 4GB of memory or 1 processor. The systems reports "Installed Memory 12GB (4 GB Usable)"

Hi, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise can support up to 2TB memory. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_server_2008_r2 Please understand that to use all 12GB of memory on a computer that has 12GB memory installed, we must not only install appropriate systems, but also enable the memory remapping feature in BIOS. enable the memory remapping feature in BIOS. The memory remapping feature allows for the segment of system memory that was previously overwritten by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) configuration space to be remapped above the 4 GB address line. This feature must be enabled in the BIOS configuration utility on the computer. View your computer product documentation for instructions that explain how to enable this feature. Many consumer-oriented computers may not support the memory remapping feature. No standard terminology is used in documentation or in BIOS configuration utilities for this feature. Therefore, you may have to read the descriptions of the various BIOS configuration settings that are available to determine whether any of the settings enable the memory remapping feature. When the physical RAM that is installed on a computer equals the address space that is supported by the chipset, the total system memory that is available to the operating system is always less than the physical RAM that is installed. For example, consider a computer that has an Intel 975X chipset that supports 8 GB of address space. If you install 8 GB of RAM, the system memory that is available to the operating system will be reduced by the PCI configuration requirements. In this scenario, PCI configuration requirements reduce the memory that is available to the operating system by an amount that is between approximately 200 MB and approximately 1 GB. The reduction depends on the configuration. Have you enabled the memory remapping feature? If you would like to know how to enable the memory remapping feature in BIOS, you can contact your computer manufacturer for detailed steps. For more information, please refer to the following article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610/en-us Tim Quan

Hello, The system that is hosting this OS is ESXi 4.1 and I have other 2008 R2 enterprise installs that are able to support more than 4GB of RAM. The only difference is that this system was upgraded with DISM to Enterprise. When I run msconfig as referenced in the second link I have nothing listed under the boot options tab and the Advanced Options button does nothing. Thanks, Matt Cozzolino

Hi Matt, Thank you for the reply. I suggest updating your BIOS and contacting Dell to enable memory remapping. I do not have enough memory to test the issue. It would be the best if you can performed following tests: 1. Clean Install Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise using the disk. 2. Clean Install Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise using DISM. Will they have different results? Tim Quan

Yes Tim is right.In order to expose the entire 12GB RAM to the OS, the system hardware must actually support MORE THAN 12GB address space and implement a feature called memory remapping or memory hoisting. Ask you hardware vendor.http://www.virmansec.com/blogs/skhairuddin

May be you have to change a key: See this thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/e0083b53-5721-42d8-b676-5bbb1ac76816

haha Tim you updated him aswell. I dont have any idea how it happens Microsoft should consider this as a bug. http://www.virmansec.com/blogs/skhairuddin

Tim, Syed, Removing the product key, and using the generic key provided by MS. I was able to see and access all of the memory on the system as expected. Of course when I activated windows with my volume license key and then restarted the system I'm back down to 4GB. That tells me this is NOT a hardware problem. This looks to be the exact same problem that Tom is having on his thread. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/e0083b53-5721-42d8-b676-5bbb1ac76816 Is there something I can do or am I stuck with reinstalling the OS? Thanks, Matt Cozzolino

Thanks Matt, I will report this to our product group. Thank you for your efforts and feedback. Currently I suggest we do not use DISM to upgrade the system. Tim Quan