Fixed Issue: Hyper-V Virtual Machine Ran Out of Memory

Why did Hyper-V virtual machine run out of memory

When you start your Hyper-V virtual machine installed Windows 10/11, an error window pops up “Could not initialize memory: Ran out of memory (0x8007000E)”. It’s obvious that you cannot run the Hyper-V virtual machine now, even this error will not allow you to create any new virtual machines in Hyper-V.

Why did the error show Hyper-V virtual machine run out of memory? It’s caused by not assigning enough memory to the Hyper-V VM. If you use Hyper-V dynamic memory that adjust the amount of RAM based on the application priority. If the allocated RAM memory only reaches the minimum requirement, then the error message mentioned above will appear.

This article covers the reason and solutions of Hyper-V virtual machine ran out of memory.

How to fix "Hyper-V virtual ran out of memory"

If you can boot your Hype-V virtual machine, you can navigate to Hyper-V Manager to assign memory to Hyper-V VM.

Method 1. Assign less memory to Hyper-V VM

You can check how many RAM you have in your Hyper-V virtual machine and which applications use the most in Task Management. Then go to solve the this problem of running out of memory in Hyper-V by assigning the RAM in Hyper-V Manager.

1. Navigate to Hyper-V Manager and right-click the virtual machine you cannot start, then select Settings.

2. Select Memory, you can see the Start RAM and Minimum RAM on the right section. If the required RAM is more than the memory you actually have, the error message will show to mention Hyper-V virtual machine ran out of memory. So please allocate less RAM to the Hyper-V virtual machine.

If the memory is less than the Start RAM, it may fail to boot the virtual machine in Hyper-V.

3. You can increase the memory buffer and memory weight as you need.

Method 2. Restart the Hyper-V VM to clear memory

In addition to not starting a virtual machine because of running out of memory, you may encounter some other problems with memory when using Hyper-V on a daily basis.

The first solution is to reboot your operating system. Any system will fix many problems on its own after shutting down and booting. This is also one of the fastest ways to fix problems. But before you power-off or on VM, you need to consider backing up Hyper-V in case of data loss.

Method 3. Clear Memory Cache

If a Hyper-V VM is running too many applications that take up a lot of memory and run silently in the background, you should clear the memory cache in the virtual machine timely. For this situation, you can do as followings.

1. Close the unwanted programs in Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

2. Reduce Startup items. Select Start-up section, disable the programs you do not need as soon as you log in to the virtual machine.

3. Disable Windows Visual Effects.

4. Periodically clear Page File at Shutdown.

If a Hyper-V virtual machine ran out of memory, you cannot start your virtual machine or create a new VM. Troubleshooting in Hyper-V virtual machines takes up a lot of time and causes financial loss for business. So you should back up Hyper-V to protect data from security threats.

Free Hyper-V data protection in case of running out of memory

AOMEI Cyber Backup is a free Hyper-V backup tool that was designed to back up Hyper-V with flexible backup strategies and restore the Hyper-V VM within a few clicks, which protects VM data continuously and reduces business downtime. With this professional backup software, you can benefit a lot from these features.

Perpetual Free: no time limit for AOMEI Cyber Backup Free Edition.
Easy-to-use: Backup and restore the entire VM only based on a few clicks without any complicated configuration.
Automate VM Backup: Schedule VMware ESXi / Hyper-V backups to run the backup task automatically, monitors the status and sends email notifications if there's an error.
Fast Recovery: The recovery process is based on several clicks without installing or configuring any complicated programs or applications.
Centralized VM Backup: Backup multiple Hyper-V / VMware virtual machines at host level without installing agent on each VM, and simply manage the tasks though central console.

Please hit the button below to download and use AOMEI Cyber Backup for free:

*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

Always Secure Hyper-V with AOMEI Cyber Backup Free

1. Click Backup Task >> Create New Task to schedule Hyper-V backups.

2. In the wizard, enter the Task Name and select Hyper-V Backup.

✦ In Device Name section, select virtual machines on the Hyper-V host.

✦ In Target section, specify a location to store VM backups such as network or local place. You can easily backup VM to NAS.

✦ In Schedule section, enable schedule task and choose full/incremental backup, then specify backup time and frequency as daily/weekly/monthly.

✦ Archvie feature can help you archive backups to a Cloud storage- Amazon S3. 

✦ Click Start Backup. From the drop-down menu, you can decide to perform backup later or now.

3. Click Restore. You can restore the VM to its precious status fast and easily.

✍ While the Free Edition covers most of the VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to Premium Edition to enjoy:
✦ Batch VM backup: batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server or on standalone ESXi hosts.
✦ Backup Cleanup: Specify retention policy to delete unwanted VM backups automatically, thus saving storage space and cost.
✦ Restore to new location: Easily make a clone of a virtual machine in the same or another datastore/host, without reinstalling or configuring a new VM.

Regular backups can effectively avoid the possibility of losing data due to memory exhaustion. AOMEI Cyber Backup allows you to protect your business from threats by running VM backups automatically. With the auto cleanup plan, it also saves storage space and cost for multiple virtual machines.

Summary

If your Hyper-V virtual machine ran out of memory, you can reassign the amount of RAM in Hyper-V Manager. For virtual machines running a lot of important data, it is more recommended using a fixed size disk and clear the memory regularly.

Regular Hyper-V backup helps you deal with the unbootable virtual machines efficiently. It’s always secure and reliable to use AOMEI Cyber Backup.