Ramdrive tweaks for network speed boost

cypher_138 · May 6, 2004, 02:26 PM

The following guide is geard towards to those with a minium of 512MB of RAM (1GB is ideal) Please back up your registry prior to attempting it .

I've been using this and have noticed lower latency and more speed in general on line and figured I'd share it

The first tweak is from over here:

dslnuts

It was modified to work in XP as defined bellow.

You'll want to back up your registry before doing this and have 512 or more RAM for it to be useful.

First you need to make a Ramdrive. I'm using this one myself,
Ramdisk

I left everything default except the size of the drive,(I set mine to 65MB) and selected emulate local hard disk for operating mode. Leaving it as Ramdrive made it inaccessible.

Now go to run>regedit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Services

From there you want to find
afd
netbt
tcpip
ipnat
In each of those change the image path to your Ramdisk, (Z: is the default).
\??\Z:\<service name>
For afd it would look like
\??\Z:\afd.sys

Once you do that for all the above services you may also want to put your cookies and history there as well. This will delete your history and cookies whenever you reboot and is not required. The best way to do that is to use "find" in the registry to search for Cookies since history is in the same location.
You want to change the image path for both of these to Z:\Cookies. The same for the history. Search for all instances of these two files. I believe there are three in XP.

Now take the following script, (courtesy of Micro from Cablenut) and copy it to notepad:

@echo on

Echo Starting TCP/IP Services

copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys z:\

net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip
net start ipnat

Save it as "login.cmd" and put it in root, (C:\ drive is default.)
Drag and drop this now over to your start-up folder so it loads the script automatically on start-up.
*If your system drive is other than C:\ rename it accordingly in the above script.

Before you reboot open a browser, select tools>internet options>settings. Adjust it to the desired size (50MB works fine)
Select "Move folder" and point it at your Ramdrive, hit OK than apply.

Windows will than tell you you have to log off. Instead reboot you computer.
That's pretty much it.

What we've done here is:
Put your TCPIP stack, network drivers, Cookies, History and Temporary Internet files in to a Ram drive.
Since Ram is faster than a HD it speeds everything up a bit. When you reboot your system it also clears your temporary internet, cookies and history files.

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I am.

cypher_138 · May 7, 2004, 10:28 PM

Anyone here try this yet?

cypher_138 · Jun 20, 2004, 07:39 PM

Just an update for those using Mozilla or Firefox

For Mozilla go to
Preferences>advanced>cache
And simplily select the Ramdrive.

Firefox requirers you to add the following line to your user.js

// Path to Cache folder:
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.parent_directory","Z :\\FF_Cache");

This is located here
C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.s8g\user.js

While you're there might as well add this on to speed up pageload times.

// This one makes a huge difference. Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

ctrl+s and your good to go.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jun 21, 2004, 02:39 AM

DSL tweak I’d personally steer clear off...

Each connection will be better off manually tweaked or left alone. The wrong setting can cause degradation not improvement. Every bodysconnections even on the same service can a will differ slightly. Which each little difference = a setting that should be different…Also there is a fine balance between latency and through put. For example one setting maybe better for gaming but another for downloading.

As for the Ram drive I assuming this is based on the windows XP/2000 beta ram “drive“…If this is not I’d recommend people try the Microsoft provided ram drive it works great but there are size limitations with the Microsoft provided driver.

People should be aware using a ram drive with you browser maybe slightly faster but a ram drive takes away from your total system memory thus reducing performance while gaming! Or doing anything that might need that memory especially video/audio encoding/decoding… Also people should understand what ever is saved on a ram drive will be deleted should they reboot or turn off their pc. It would be annoying at lest to me. I won’t be able to auto login at site like DH etc that use cookies to save info. After I reboot I’d have to re login…

For the rest I simply don’t know, but this is not for novice users I have a feeling some one could Bork their system trying this … I’m not meaning to take a dump on your thread. But I should remind users they should back up any critical data before attempting anything like this…

best wishes

cypher_138 · Jun 21, 2004, 02:43 PM

Hi Neon,
I appreciate the feedback and disclaimer. I'll go back and edit my initial post to provide forewarning and revise it a bit.
The above is'nt a DSL tweak. It just puts your stack and nic .sys files in RAM.. Cookies, temporary internet files and history are optional. Makes a big speed difference when online gaming.

DSL tweak wise I use this http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe
I set it to custom> modify all network adaptersl>I leave RWIN blank in XP so the stack will auto adjust itself and set max browser connections to 20/10.
You are right in that it's not a one size fits all type of deal. This guide will help you to find your best settings for your particular setup. It's very insightfull.
http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=73799

germanjulian · Jul 21, 2004, 09:44 AM

this wont give you lower latencies. this wont improve your internet connection. all this will do is make surfing the web a little bit faster.

Shadow Lady · Jul 21, 2004, 06:29 PM

do we really need to navigate the web faster?

Falstaff · Jul 31, 2004, 02:54 AM

cant believe I missed this one..thanx

cypher_138 · Aug 13, 2004, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallang_jeff

cant believe I missed this one..thanx

I'm glad you like it.

I'm still trying to see the impact SP2 has on this tweak. Are you running it with SP2?

MythicaL · Aug 14, 2004, 01:31 AM

Works fine on SP2

cypher_138 · Aug 14, 2004, 11:41 AM

Yeah it does seem to be working fine. I just wanted to check it out due to the changes SP2 made to the stack. Thanks for the heads up mYthicaL.

MythicaL · Aug 15, 2004, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher_138

Yeah it does seem to be working fine. I just wanted to check it out due to the changes SP2 made to the stack. Thanks for the heads up mYthicaL.

Kein problem

Falstaff · Aug 30, 2004, 10:13 PM

I am looking for a plain old modem tweak for dialup. Using AOL on my dads box, and he suffers from the 9.0 double buffering problem..lol..any ideas?

WisMerHill · Aug 31, 2004, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallang_jeff

I am looking for a plain old modem tweak for dialup. Using AOL on my dads box, and he suffers from the 9.0 double buffering problem..lol..any ideas?

http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/win2kmodem/ for w2k but should be the same for XP

http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/modem/ for Win9X

http://www.dansdata.com/sbs33.htm General

http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/contweak.htm Win98 mostly

http://forums.speedguide.net/showthr...ght=56k+tweaks

ChoGGi · Sep 22, 2004, 10:34 AM

hey cypher_138 you can use this instead

copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys z:\

copy %SystemRoot%\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
copy %SystemRoot%\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy %SystemRoot%\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy %SystemRoot%\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys z:\

then it doesnt matter which drive win is on (not sure if this works for win9x)

ariel_starboard · Sep 30, 2004, 01:26 PM

hello cypher_138,

have you tried this tweak on Windows Server 2003? i try this on a win2k3 enterprise but
tcpip.sys won't start. so i have no network connection. I've always got this error on my event viewer once i try this tweak.

The TCP/IP Protocol Driver service failed to start due to the following error:
Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

i hope you can help me on this.
thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher_138

The following guide is geard towards to those with a minium of 512MB of RAM (1GB is ideal) Please back up your registry prior to attempting it .

I've been using this and have noticed lower latency and more speed in general on line and figured I'd share it

The first tweak is from over here:

dslnuts

It was modified to work in XP as defined bellow.

You'll want to back up your registry before doing this and have 512 or more RAM for it to be useful.

First you need to make a Ramdrive. I'm using this one myself,
Ramdisk

I left everything default except the size of the drive,(I set mine to 65MB) and selected emulate local hard disk for operating mode. Leaving it as Ramdrive made it inaccessible.

Now go to run>regedit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Services

From there you want to find
afd
netbt
tcpip
ipnat
In each of those change the image path to your Ramdisk, (Z: is the default).
\??\Z:\<service name>
For afd it would look like
\??\Z:\afd.sys

Once you do that for all the above services you may also want to put your cookies and history there as well. This will delete your history and cookies whenever you reboot and is not required. The best way to do that is to use "find" in the registry to search for Cookies since history is in the same location.
You want to change the image path for both of these to Z:\Cookies. The same for the history. Search for all instances of these two files. I believe there are three in XP.

Now take the following script, (courtesy of Micro from Cablenut) and copy it to notepad:

@echo on

Echo Starting TCP/IP Services

copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys z:\
copy c:\windows\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys z:\

net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip
net start ipnat

Save it as "login.cmd" and put it in root, (C:\ drive is default.)
Drag and drop this now over to your start-up folder so it loads the script automatically on start-up.
*If your system drive is other than C:\ rename it accordingly in the above script.

Before you reboot open a browser, select tools>internet options>settings. Adjust it to the desired size (50MB works fine)
Select "Move folder" and point it at your Ramdrive, hit OK than apply.

Windows will than tell you you have to log off. Instead reboot you computer.
That's pretty much it.

What we've done here is:
Put your TCPIP stack, network drivers, Cookies, History and Temporary Internet files in to a Ram drive.
Since Ram is faster than a HD it speeds everything up a bit. When you reboot your system it also clears your temporary internet, cookies and history files.

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I am.

Skrov · Oct 2, 2004, 06:28 PM

Did not get it to work though looked around and found another guide at http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=131 where they use a .bat file extension and add \??\ like this : ImagePath = \??\Z:\tcpip.sys for every altered imagePath and it worked for me

Ifixit · Aug 17, 2005, 02:35 AM

Cheers this is a nice bit of tweaking wd.

Worked for me on xp service pack 2 with 1gb ram. Had to search for ramdrive your link seems bad now.

Also \??\ was funny looking and i did not put the registry links as you had it thinking it was wrong. After i made the regisrty imagepath \??\Z:\<filename> it worked sweet as.

I only made a 15mb ramdisk as the 4 files really don't take up much space i think even a lowly 256 mb of ram system could handle it.

I shaved 2 ms of my ase pings to the game server so i'm pleased. Hopeing for better actually in game.

Thanks dude and once again wd

DH and ATI Rock

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 08:20 AM

mmm...saw this page from a web search....

decided to try this, but...
though the files are sent to the ram drive ok (drive letter R)
the PC seems to think it has no network when I boot up with the reg settings as listed in the above posts...(with the drive letter changed)

eg,
for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\AFD
I changed ImagePath from
\SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
to
\??\R:\afd.sys

I had thought the \??\ was just stuff that you are supposed to change to suit your system, but a post in this thread says otherwise, so I left them in...#

any tips on working out what I did wrong?

ChoGGi · Oct 24, 2005, 05:34 PM

sounds like these arent running
net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip
net start ipnat
try running one of them manually from a dosbox and see what it says

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 07:40 PM

mm...they should be running...at least, the .sys file is where it is supposed to be....
give me a sec to swap reg settings and I will check....

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 08:16 PM

Ok, here is what I got...(including 2 commands I ran after that..)
D:\Documents and Settings\Dave>net start afd
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

D:\Documents and Settings\Dave>NET HELPMSG 2182

The requested service has already been started.

EXPLANATION

You tried to start a service that is already running.

ACTION

To display a list of active services, type:

NET START

D:\Documents and Settings\Dave>net start
These Windows services are started:

AVG7 Alert Manager Server
AVG7 Update Service
COM+ Event System
Computer Browser
Cryptographic Services
DCOM Server Process Launcher
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting Service
Event Log
FAH@D:+Program Files+Folding@Home+FAH502-Console.exe
Help and Support
Human Interface Device Access
Network Connections
NVIDIA Display Driver Service
Plug and Play
Print Spooler
Protected Storage
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
Security Center
Server
Shell Hardware Detection
System Event Notification
System Restore Service
Task Scheduler
Terminal Services
WebClient
Windows Audio
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Windows Management Instrumentation
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration
Workstation

The command completed successfully.

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 08:19 PM

interestingly enough, as I was booting up with the normal reg settings, so I could post this, I noticed 2 dos boxes coming up for less then a second....I decided to ad a pause to the .bat file that I was using, to see what those boxes said...this is what they say...

----box 1----

D:\>Echo Starting TCP/IP Services
Starting TCP/IP Services

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys r:\
1 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys r:\
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process
0 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys r:\
1 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys r:\
1 file(s) copied.

D:\>net start afd
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

----box 2----

D:\>Echo Starting TCP/IP Services
Starting TCP/IP Services

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys r:\
1 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys r:\
1 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys r:\
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
0 file(s) copied.

D:\>copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys r:\
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
0 file(s) copied.

D:\>net start afd
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

ChoGGi · Oct 24, 2005, 08:44 PM

going by what i can see you've made it a bit too complicated or maybe its just running a few times? check your startup locations

edit: could you post the bat file your using?

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 09:14 PM

well, I only remember putting it into the startup folder...I removed the shortcut from there, and found that the file did not run
with the modded reg settings, the first 2 services did not show as running when I started them up seperatly in the dos box

the batch file is

@echo on

Echo Starting TCP/IP Services

copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\afd.sys r:\
copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys r:\
copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys r:\
copy D:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys r:\

net start afd
net start netbt
net start tcpip
net start ipnat