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ERROR_PAGEFILE_QUOTA
A paging-file quota cannot accommodate the operation.
ERROR_PAGEFILE_QUOTA is Win32 error 1454 (0x5AE). The code refers to a quota on page-file-backed memory usage, not necessarily to the physical page file being completely full. A process, account, job, or legacy quota configuration can reach its allowance while the machine still has other commit capacity.
Potential sources of the quota
- job-object limits imposed by a service host or application sandbox
- account quota information inherited by a launched process
- large private committed regions or copy-on-write mappings
- a leak that steadily increases page-file usage for one process
- an unusually small system paging configuration combined with per-process limits
Evidence to preserve
Collect process page-file usage, private bytes, commit size, job-object limits, system commit charge and limit, page-file configuration, allocation type, and requested byte count. Record whether the failing process is launched under a restricted token or special host. The distinction between a local quota and a global commit limit is central to diagnosis.
Diagnostic sequence
Check job membership and query extended limit information. Compare process commit with the configured quota and inspect growth over time. If the application uses VirtualAlloc, section mappings, or large heaps, identify which allocation class accounts for the increase. A heap snapshot alone may miss mapped or directly committed memory.
Verify system paging configuration, but do not infer quota exhaustion from page-file percentage alone. The relevant values are the process allowance and the total system commit relationship. Test whether the same workload succeeds outside the job or under a known baseline account.
Recovery
Free unused committed regions, correct leaks, reduce batch size, or raise the documented host quota when the resource requirement is legitimate. If system commit is also close to its limit, address overall memory demand and page-file sizing. Do not disable the page file as a troubleshooting shortcut; that can reduce commit capacity further.
Difference from commitment limit
ERROR_COMMITMENT_LIMIT reports that the system as a whole cannot extend committed memory. Error 1454 can be returned earlier because one process or security context has reached a narrower page-file quota.
Example
A plug-in worker runs inside a constrained job and caches decompressed assets in private memory. Its page-file usage reaches the job allowance and a later allocation fails with 1454 even though other processes are healthy. Bounding the cache and exposing the job limit in telemetry prevents recurrence.
References
- Microsoft: System Error Codes (1300–1699)
- Microsoft: QUOTA_LIMITS
- Microsoft: JOBOBJECT_EXTENDED_LIMIT_INFORMATION
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