Memory working set Apr 19, 2017 · The working set of a process is the set of memory pages currently visible to the process in physical RAM. It does this by: Defining the Working Set: The model uses a working set window (Δ), which is a time-based parameter (e. A process has an associated Jul 26, 2023 · Memory management is a critical aspect of computer systems that directly impacts their performance and stability. These pages are resident and available for an application to use without triggering a page fault. That said, these numbers are not generally useful when trying to find "memory leaks" in . The shared data includes pages that contain all instructions your application executes, including those in your DLLs and the system DLLs. The number of pages in the working set can grow and shrink, depending on the overall availability of pages on a system-wide basis. Mar 22, 2021 · The data referred to as the Resident Set is the set of pages that currently reside in physical memory (RAM). 4. [1] Sep 11, 2025 · Working Set Model The working set model aims to keep a process's working set entirely in main memory. The Working Set Size (WSS) is how much memory an application needs to keep working. If you are processing an array and storing the results in a table, the array and the table are your working set. The Working Set The group of physical memory pages currently dedicated to a specific process is known as the working set for that process. Traditionally, memory use has been measured by the working set of the process at a given time. NET. What is a Working Set? A working set constitutes the subset of virtual pages currently resident in physical memory and actively used by a process. 4. After reading the documentation on what Working Set is, I still don't have a good understanding. Mar 23, 2011 · The working set (which is what task manager shows me) seems to be able to be influenced by other applications such as debuggers (as I learned while looking for memory leaks). Nov 5, 2020 · A reference set is the recommended way to understand the real effects of a process on the memory availability of the system as a whole. 2. g. The working set is pivotal for a process Jul 14, 2025 · The working set of a program is a collection of those pages in its virtual address space that have been recently referenced. Your application may have 100 Gbytes of main memory allocated and page mapped, but it is only touching 50 Mbytes each second to do its job. As the working set size increases, memory demand increases. com Aug 27, 2025 · The Working Set Model is a fundamental memory management strategy that revolutionized how operating systems handle virtual memory allocation and page replacement. PSAPI enables you to take snapshots of the working set or to monitor the working set. It includes non-paged Private Bytes as well as memory-mapped files; Under any process, By default Task Manager displays the Working Set: Nov 4, 2023 · Working Set 1. The working set of a process is the set of memory pages currently visible to the process in physical RAM memory. Within memory management, several terms come into play, including private bytes, virtual bytes, and working sets. The working set for a process is the set of all unique pages referenced within this window. The working set of a process is the set of pages in the virtual address space of the process that are currently resident in physical memory. , the last 1000 memory accesses). In this article, we wi I am trying to use the perfmon windows utility to debug memory leaks in a process. This is how perfmon explains the terms: Working Set is the current size, in bytes, of the Working Set of this pr The process working set is those pages of the process's virtual address space that are currently in-memory (and marked as belonging to that process's working set). It is totally automatic to you. These pages are resident, and they're available for an application to use without triggering a page fault. Any help is appreciated. Working set is a concept in computer science which defines the amount of memory that a process requires in a given time interval. The Resident Set is a snapshot of the current memory state at the end of a trace capture with Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) or the Assessment Toolkit Memory assessment. May 22, 2009 · The "working set" is short hand for "parts of memory that the current algorithm is using" and is determined by which parts of memory the CPU just happens to access. Nov 2, 2022 · The Working Set runs on physical memory. This term is particularly relevant in the context of Microsoft Windows NT and later versions, including Windows 2000, XP, and subsequent releases up to Windows 10 and Windows Server editions. However, the standby page list does not appear in the Working Set as it is still in memory, so when you minimize an application, the "Mem Usage" might suddenly drop. The QueryWorkingSet or QueryWorkingSetEx function fills a buffer with a snapshot of the information for every page in the current working set of the specified process. Jun 4, 2021 · The working set of a process is the set of pages in the virtual address space of the process that are currently resident in physical memory. It is useful to know for capacity planning and scalability analysis. This is discussed because the CPU will automatically store accessed memory in cache Jun 4, 2021 · The working set of a process is the amount of memory physically mapped to its process context. Developed by Peter Denning in 1968, this model addresses the critical challenge of determining which pages should remain in physical memory to minimize page faults and optimize system performance. It includes both shared and private data. It is not possible to collect multiple snapshots in a single trace. (For more details about So you can think of the working set as the amount of physical memory used, while the commit size indicates the amount of virtual memory used (sans things like DLLs or memory mapped files, which can be back by files other than the page file). That's the working set size: the "hot" memory that is frequently used. See full list on baeldung. You may never have seen WSS . edigd vqua dmjsp azrvlu czdptx jvij hrupy bodv hmnhl bxcpsz xqaq adfgtq psvksw uphpygm nqesl