The default interactive desktop heap size has been increased on 32-bit Vista SP1

 

This is going to be a short blog post, but considering the amount of feedback we’ve received on the our two previous desktop heap posts, I think this is worth blogging about. 32-bit Vista SP1 and 32-bit Windows Server 2008 both have a new value for the default size of interactive desktop heaps. Previously, this heap size was 3 MB by default, but on Vista SP1 and Server 2008 the default interactive heap size is 12 MB. We’ve heard your comments about the problems associated with the heap size, and this new default size should go a long way towards avoiding interactive desktop heap depletion.

 

On 32-bit systems, running Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008, you’ll now see that the relevant portion of the registry value looks like this (by default)...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems\Windows

SharedSection=1024,12288,512

 

64-bit Windows still has a default interactive desktop heap size of 20MB. Keep in mind that in Vista, session view space (the memory range that desktop heaps are allocated from) is now a dynamic address range. This means that in Vista and Server 2008 the individual desktop heap sizes can be increased to larger sizes with less concern over exhausting session view space.

 

- Matthew Justice