“Not Enough Memory” Error Message: Windows 8 Phone Emulator Not Starting in Windows 8.1

With the demand of App development rising to extreme levels, the need for Windows Phone Emulator is increasing rapidly. Windows Phone Emulator is a desktop program that duplicates a literal phone device, providing a virtualized environment in which to run, test, and debug Windows Apps before entering the wild. Furthermore, it extends its features by granting an isolated environment for developers’ prototypes, which is obviously a crucial prerequisite to any successful launch.

Prior to proceeding this piece for the solution, let be advised to first Scan and Fix your system’s concealed disorders which most probably is eliciting the inconsistencies:



Therefore, it is only left as a formality to state that one needs this vital application in a perfectly sound condition to make any inroads into the App arena. Unfortunately though, Windows 8.1 is not letting this to happen, at least for some users. If starting the Emulator is generating a puzzling Memory Error message even when you are sure of possessing adequate free space for the instances, the problem is not with your system, instead with Windows 8.1’s properties. Explore the cause of this perplexed situation in the following section, and then proceed to the troubleshoot procedure to work around this issue.

Cause

When it comes to memory allocation, Windows 8.1 is more conservative in its approach than were its predecessors. In this latest operating system, Hyper-V memory management considers the memory consumed by the neighboring programs before initiating any emulator instances. If found insufficient, it reports a “low memory situation” to the system, blocking any further activities. Previously, this consideration was not made in Windows 8, and that explains why running the same emulator on both versions results in different circumstances.

Solutions

This section explains how you can work around this trouble by adopting straightforward methods:

Method 1: Monitor Memory Usage

Windows comes with an-built monitoring tool to observe memory consumption of all running programs, and disable any if found unnecessary. This can help you generate extra space and possibly fix the memory dilemma you currently face.

Here are the steps to access and use this utility:

  • Open Task Manager by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys
  • View Processes tab
  • Click the Memory column to arrange all items according to their memory consumption
  • Monitor all applications and notice for any unwanted processes
  • If identified, highlight the program(s) and click End task button

Restart the emulator and see if the problem repeats. If this method is found unsuccessful, proceed to the next solutions.

Method 2: Disable Hyper-V monitoring

This resolution involves disabling the Hyper-V runtime memory monitoring functionality, and allowing the OS to imitate the older versions; ignore memory usage of other programs. This is a guaranteed fix to your cause.

To do this, manually edit the Windows Registry as followed:

  • Enter Start Screen (Windows key) and type run
  • Hit Enter to launch Run box
  • Type regedit and press Enter
  • In the Registry Editor box, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE from the left hive
  • Go to SOFTWARE
  • Enter Microsoft
  • Expand Windows NT
  • Finally, expand CurrentVersion
  • Locate Virtualization and right-click it
  • Point to New and choose DWORD Value
  • Type MemoryReserve and hit Enter
  • Double-click MemoryReserve
  • Under Value data field, type 2048
  • Select Decimal option and click OK
  • Close Registry Editor

MemoryReserve registry value determines how much memory is reserved for the system. For example, in our case when we set the value to 2048, this means that 2 GB memory is reserved for the hosting system. Windows Phone emulator will start its instances using the rest, ignoring any information related to program memory usage.

The above solutions should work in healing your concern. However, if the problem persists, you could try reinstalling the application and see if that fixes the issue. Else, purchase extra RAM to quit any low memory situations from disturbing you again.

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