Remove Memory Limit with AWE (Address Windowing Extensions) in SQL Server

First of all, this is an old technology. Many of people use 64 bit operating systems. So there is no need to configure awe. But some of people may use 32 bit operationg system still. Thats why I want to share AWE.

The maximum memory limit of SQL Server running on 32-bit operating systems is 4 GB. We need to use the AWE feature to exceed the 4 GB limit. By configuring AWE at the instance level, we will be able to use more than 4 GB of memory in 32-bit operating systems.

We need to enable Lock Pages In Memory on the operating system side before configuring the AWE. You can find details on how to do this in “Numa Nodes, MAX / MIN Server Memory, Lock Pages In Memory, MAXDOP“.

We can enable AWE on the instance with the help of the following script. After you run the script, you need to restart sql server service.

You cannot enable this feature on 64-bit operating systems. There is no need anyway.