16GB installed only 8GB usable

[dar124]

I've been running my WHS 2011 server with 8GB of memory for a while, and everything has worked pretty good. My server is set up on a Lenovo Thinkcentre m93p with an Intel Core i5 3.30 GHz processor. I mainly use it to stream movies / TV shows to my FireTV's. But I just got my security camera back up and running (which almost constantly records to the server) and I also just set up my Sonos to scan and play my local music. So I figured I'd get some additional memory to help w/ the increased work the server is going to be doing.

Seems simple enough. I took a picture of the 2x4GB sticks of memory in the server and went on eBay and picked up another 8GB of memory. I got 2x4GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600U DDR3 memory (just like what's currently installed). I got up this morning powered things down and added the 2 additional sticks. And after booting it back up the server shows 16GB is installed, but only 8 GB is usable?? Not sure why only 8GB would be usable?? I could understand not having the total 16GB recognized if a stick was bad or wasn't seated correctly, but it shows the full 16GB with 8GB usable??

 

[dar124]

Well damn ... after googling a bit more I guess the max memory in WHS 2011 is 8GB.

Kinda sucks, but answers my question.

 

[Spartacus09]

What features (if any) are you using that Windows 7/10 doesn't cover that WHS does?
If you wanted to take advantage of the 16GB you'd have to do an OS reinstall, WHS has no upgrade paths unfortunately.

If you do need the server version, Server 2012 R2 Foundation is likely your best bet since you only need a single CPU license (it would get you to a 32GB ram max), its about $200 new from a legitimate source.

 

[kirbyrj]

As a former WHS and WHS 2011 user, I just migrated to a regular Win 10 Pro install. I bought Stablebit's Drivepool as a replacement for Drive Extender and it has done everything I could expect it to do.