How Windows Handles Bad Permanent Swap Files

 Last reviewed: November 21, 1994
Article ID: Q95575
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

This article explains the process Windows follows to find or re-create an existing permanent swap file if a swap file problem is detected.

The swap file is an element of the memory management services Windows provides. It is used to swap application code and data that is not being used from RAM to the hard disk. In this manner, Windows can provide more memory to your applications than is physically installed on your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

After you type "win" (without the quotation marks) at the MS-DOS prompt, Windows reads the SYSTEM.INI file for various startup information, including the size, type and whereabouts of the swap file. If Windows finds a reference to a swap file, it looks for it (386SPART.PAR) on the hard disk.

If 386SPART.PAR is the wrong size (zero bytes, for example), Windows (WIN386.EXE) deletes and recreates 386SPART.PAR. If 386SPART.PAR does not exist at all, the following error message is displayed on a blue screen: 

   Corrupt Swap-File Warning
This error message asks if you would like to delete the corrupted swap file. If you choose No, Windows does not attempt to correct the bad permanent swap file, and starts normally. Until you choose Yes, every time you start Windows, you will receive this error message.

If you choose Yes, the next time you start Windows, CPWIN386.CPL (the 386 Enhanced portion of Control Panel) is used to create a new swap file. If the permanent swap file is created successfully, no further problems occur and all the settings in your Windows configuration should be the same as they were before you had swap file problems.

If Windows cannot find CPWIN386.CPL or if there is a problem with the file, the following error message is displayed: 

   The CPWIN386.CPL utility could not be run. Either CPWIN386.CPL
   could not be found, an access error occurred on the file, or there
   was insufficient memory to run the utility. The permanent swap file
   can not be set up.
If you receive this error message, make sure the file, CPWIN386.CPL, is in your SYSTEM subdirectory.

If CPWIN386.CPL loads successfully but fails to create a permanent swap file, the following error message is displayed: 

   The CPWIN386 utility was not able to set up the permanent swap
   file.
This error message could be caused by insufficient disk space or other problems that normally prevent permanent swap file creation.

For more information about creating a permanent swap file, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   permanent and swap and kbtshoot

KBCategory: kbusage kberrmsg
KBSubcategory: wfw win30 win31 wfwg
Additional reference words: tshoot 3.00 3.00a 3.10 3.11 unsuccessful change
swap
file err msg

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Last reviewed: November 21, 1994
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