Windows Vista ReadyBoost Problem

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20 Responses

  1. Anthony says:

    @Ronnie – The Cruzers are fast enough, so that should definitely work. And the ReadyBoost tab should always be there, even if the device is not fast enough.
    Check if the ReadyBoost service is running (services.msc). If not try starting it. I have seen cases where it did not start as a result of registry corruption. If it does not start in your case, start an admin command prompt and try “SFC /SCANNOW” first.

  2. Ronnie says:

    Using a Cruzer Flash Drive. Did your steps above but when I right click on the Flash Drive and properties I do NOT get a Ready Boost tab!
    Frustrating.
    Yes I am 2.0 USB ports, vista and autorun is on.

  3. Anthony says:

    @Robert Miles – To my knowledge ReadyBoost can only be used to create a disk cache from your USB stick. So effectively you are already using more (flash) memory to speed up the system, but it will not change the Vista memory limits or the mobo RAM limits.
    Besides, as you correctly state, that is a motherboard limit. With the right 64-bit Vista version you can already address 128 GB of RAM if your mobo allows.

  4. Can ReadyBoost make Vista effectively use more RAM than that version of Vista was designed to allow? All three of my machines already have as much installed memory as their motherboards allow, which is also as much as their Windows Vista Home Premium versions allow (4 GB on the 32-bit machine; 8 GB on the two 64-bit machines).

  5. Reiska says:

    Okay, I apparently also had something else clogging up my system as well. I just ran a disk Error-Check on both my drives and now the system seems to run fine. Only I was initially surprised as I couldn’t see the ReadyBoost used anywhere, in the Task Manager as Physical Space or anywhere in the Resource Monitor. (as opposed to: now it shows up in Resource monitor, in the Disk section as the ReadyBoost.sfcahce file is actively being used.) Previously about all of the processes shown in the Resource monitor showed response times between 1000 – 8000 ms, but now they’re back to more normal values (only the readyboost.sfcache shows sbout 160 ms, all other processes below 20 ms.) Thanks anyway :)

  6. Anthony says:

    @Reiska – If you cannot notice any difference in your system’s performance in any scenario, then you can obviously do with it. Keep in mind that fast, modern computers will not benefit from ReadyBoost that much. It is merely on older systems, where minimum requirements for Vista are just met, that you will see the biggest impact of ReadyBoost.

  7. Reiska says:

    What if Windows recognizes the USB drive normally, lets me choose ReadyBoost for it and set the amount of memory used for this, and even takes up the set amount of memory from the drive but has no effect whatsoever on the system otherwise?

  8. Anthony says:

    @antonio – I have added a screen shot of the registry edit, hope that helps.

  9. antonio says:

    where is “ReadSpeedKBs”
    i cant find that

  10. Mohamd says:

    unbelievable?!!!!!!!
    frist i was careless about this soulation but when i tried it, amazing really like charm
    now it worked, much thanks

  11. MIKEY says:

    PHAT!

  12. Grant says:

    Worked perfectly used 10000 instead of 1000

  13. Evan says:

    Worked like a charm, even with the Gizmo drive plugged in! You rock! :D

  14. Chris says:

    It really worked for me! After done this I selected te ‘retry’ (or something like that) button for readyboost and it finaly recognized that it can be used for readyboost. Thank you!

  15. Anthony says:

    @Gavin – that is strange. I tested some old USB keys again to make sure, but it really works.
    Two things to try:
    1) make sure the device is set to not be re-tested in the drive ReadyBoost properties. Otherwise Vista will reset the speed to the actual measured speed.
    2) increase the 1000, for example 10000. It’s simply about convincing the system to accept the speed.

  16. Gavin Moulds says:

    I had the same problem initially. Vista would not allow me to use ready boost for any of my several memory sticks. Since then I have re-installed and the same thing happened. The device does not have the required performance characterstics…….

    I followed your advice to the letter and edited the registry. It made no difference whatsoever.

  17. Roger says:

    Thanks for the information Anthony. I know that the Gizmo drive does have the drivers on it as part of the device. So I’ll look into this as a potential issue.

  18. Anthony says:

    Roger, weird problem indeed. Since your device is not recognized on other systems, it is indeed likely something on the device itself.
    Only thing I know of that possibly explains such a problem is U3 launcher software on the stick. Not sure if the Gizmo has this as well, but Sandisk devices do. You probably need to find a U3 remover tool for the Crucial devices if there is such a launcher on it, as it can prevent ReadyBoost to work.
    Your memory expansion should not be the problem. More memory could reduce the speed impact resulting from the ReadyBoost device, but not the working as a whole.

    Hope you manage to fix it.

  19. Roger says:

    Jonathon, good bit of info however I have a very different issue with Readyboost on Vista. I bought a 4GB Gizmo drive specifically for the purpose of using it as Readyboost. Since then I have upgraded the main PC memory. Now the Gizmo USB device isn’t recognised by the system when it is pugged in, and this is the same on other PC’s. I’m not convinced that the device is broken, but I do think it may have been reserved for Readyboost only and I can’t find a way to format it.

    Any help greatly appreciated.

  1. March 3, 2022

    […] has been around since Windows Vista. We wrote about ReadyBoost back in 2008! And the feature is still supported on new Windows versions, including Windows […]

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