Ramdrive tweaks for network speed boost - Page 2

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

ChoGGi · Oct 24, 2005, 09:17 PM

try putting net start tcpip first instead of net start afd
you can use startupcpl to see whats starting
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

conglacio · Oct 24, 2005, 09:51 PM

changed it round, and the first 3 start ok, the last says it is allready running.

*retiring for night...will be back tomorrow*

thanks for the help so far!

ChoGGi · Oct 25, 2005, 09:27 AM

check the registry one more time just to make sure you typed in the locations right

conglacio · Oct 25, 2005, 02:25 PM

ok, just loaded up that reg backup.....

\??\R:\tcpip.sys

the other 3 have the same format

ChoGGi · Oct 25, 2005, 02:33 PM

well i only got this working yesterday (had a clean install figured i might as well try it) so i'm basically out of ideas

i have them starting in this order (i dont have netbt there because it doesnt run normally so no sense in me running it)
tcpip
afd
ipnat

you could try copying the files from elsewhere instead of the driver folder (i have to do that for x64 or else the file redirection crap kicks in), probably wont make a difference though.