Unable to Enable Pagefile using WMIC: Here's the Solution

Cause

The cause of this issue is related to the way WMI handles the enabling of the pagefile. When you use the wmic pagefileset enable name="C:\pagefile.sys" command, WMI creates a new pagefile with the specified name but does not actually enable it. The existing pagefile remains active, and the new one is not used until the next reboot.

Solution

To properly enable the new pagefile using WMI, you need to set its size first and then enable it. Here's how:

Set the size of the new pagefile

wmic pagefileset set size=X size=Y name="C:\pagefile.sys"

Replace X with the size of the new pagefile in bytes, and Y with the size of the old pagefile in bytes. For example:

wmic pagefileset set size=102400 size=5242880 name="C:\pagefile.sys"

This command sets the size of the new pagefile to 100 MB (102400 KB) and the size of the old pagefile to 5 GB (5242880 KB).

Enable the new pagefile

wmic pagefileset where name="C:\pagefile.sys" get enable

Check the output of this command. If the "Enable" property is set to "False", run the following command:

wmic pagefileset where name="C:\pagefile.sys" call enable

This command enables the new pagefile.

Summary

In summary, to enable a new pagefile using WMI, you need to set its size first and then enable it. The wmic pagefileset enable command alone does not enable the new pagefile but only creates a new one. Use the steps outlined in this article to properly enable the new pagefile and avoid any potential issues.