"Setup is out of memory and cannot continue" error message

SYMPTOM

When using the BootManage Administrator to perform an unattended Windows installation via a DOS/Win98 boot image, Windows setup displays the following error message:

Setup is out of memory and cannot continue
Setup cannot continue. Press ENTER to exit.

CAUSE

The Windows setup processor, WINNT.EXE, has determined that there is not enough conventional memory available in order to complete the Windows setup process.

RESOLUTION

In order to resolve this problem, use any measure (or a combination of measures) that provides more available conventional memory in the DOS/Win98 boot image. Please keep in mind that the same boot image is used for various target computer types. Therefore, we strongly recommend to use only "generic" measures that work for all target computer types. Following, we show two generic measures that should solve the problem in almost all cases:

1. Do not specify a cache size when loading the SMARTDRV drive cache. We even recommend to load SMARTDRV without commandline parameters as described in support article "Setup stops responding (hangs) during file copy".

2. In the CONFIG.SYS file of the DOS/Win98 boot image, load the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE memory managers with the following commandline switches:

device=a:\dos\himem.sys /testmem:off /numhandles=128
device=a:\dos\emm386.exe h=128 highscan noems

As an alternative to the DOS/Win98 based boot image, you may also want to consider using a Windows PE or BartPE based boot image. These operating systems do not have "conventional memory" restraints.

MORE INFORMATION

The error message "Setup is out of memory and cannot continue" can be confusing, especially when the PC is equipped with 1 GB or more of physical memory. Keep in mind that, when using a DOS/Win98 based boot image, a DOS/Win98 "helper OS" is used to install the Windows operating system. DOS/Win98 divides the total available memory in a small "conventional" and a large "extended" part. The Windows setup processor, WINNT.EXE, requires a certain amount of conventional memory. If there is not enough conventional memory on a target system available, WINNT.EXE cannot continue.

The amount of a system's available conventional and extended memory can be determined by running the DOS/Win98 MEM tool from within the boot image.

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