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I have a computer with 8GB of RAM installed and it is running Windows 7 Professional. I was curious why my memory usage is so high, so I quickly build summary using Powershell:

$(Get-Process | measure -Sum -Property VirtualMemorySize).sum/8/1024/1024
3147,34033203125

If I open resmon at the same time it says that 4430MB RAM are used. So there is more than 1GB "missing", please see the screenshot below. Can you help me find it? Taskmanager also shows the same memory value as resmon.

RAM usage powershell vs resmon

My prediction is about my usage of a RAMdisk and different programs for that purpose in the past. I observed the following: Currently I'm using "ImDisk" for creating the RAM Disk. I've added a 1GB RAM disk and taskmanager/resmon sees the new RAM Disk as used RAM, while powershell's get-process does not (please see second screenshot). So how can I determine the correct memory usage with powershell? And is it possible, that there is an old ram disk driver that I used in the past still somewhere hidden in the system occupying the missing amount of RAM? Does Powershell's get -process take system servies into account? Thank you for your help!

enter image description here

Update 1: RAMMap Screenshot (1GB RAM Disk running):

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Update 2:

Poolmom Screenshot (1GB RAM Disk running):

enter image description here

Oliver R.
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  • A running ramdisk would have evidence somewhere: It will be a running process. Look through your Services and through your Task Manager. Perhaps use Process Explorer from SysInternals to identify any processes using this missing 1GB. However, the RAM could also be in use by the hardware of the computer. Your BIOS video settings may reserve a given amount of memory and focusing only on RAMDisks as the culprit is very likely NOT to get you the full answer. – music2myear Feb 13 '18 at 21:45
  • You should also read these two questions already answered: https://superuser.com/questions/674649/windows-using-too-much-ram-how-to-diagnose-resource-hog and https://superuser.com/questions/906161/why-do-resource-monitor-and-task-managers-total-ram-usage-not-even-remotely-add?rq=1 – music2myear Feb 13 '18 at 21:46
  • I was thinking about the other hardware portion, but resmon clearly shows only 2MB reserved for other hardware (-> screenshots). Memdisks somehow allowcate their space by using a driver and/or a system service, so there is no specific process to it. The "largest" processes on my system are way below 1GB memory, so taskmanager/resmon/processexplorer do not help. Thank you for the links, I'll check them more detailed asap, poolmom.exe seems to be a useful tool. – Oliver R. Feb 13 '18 at 21:57
  • Services have processes, even in Windows 7, and memory assigned to drivers would be visible in the system processes. Both can be identified using Process Explorer. That Process Explorer does not show a relevant entry indicates to me this is not likely to be a RamDisk issue. – music2myear Feb 13 '18 at 22:06
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    You’re querying virtual memory (AKA “Commit”). It is not the same as RAM usage. – Daniel B Feb 14 '18 at 08:03
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    post [RAMMap](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rammap) picture – magicandre1981 Feb 14 '18 at 15:54
  • Use SysInternals procmon, to get the full information on all processes running on your machine, memory usage, command path, etc. – postanote Feb 14 '18 at 07:28
  • What type of GPU are you using? Perhaps it's part of the "shared" video memory. – Allen Howard Feb 14 '18 at 20:52
  • I disabled the onboard graphics (think it is an Nvidia 8600 GS or similar, it is not shown in the device manager), main GPU is an Nvidia 580 GTX – Oliver R. Feb 14 '18 at 21:03
  • you have 2GB of [driver locked](https://superuser.com/a/1125553/174557) which could be the ramdrive, the rest could be ok if you run a lot of normal programs (you made them unreadable or us). so the usage is normal. – magicandre1981 Feb 15 '18 at 15:59

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