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The memory management of OS can be for the memory allocated for a process and the memory allocated for the kernel of OS.

I know that virtual memory is used for processes. I wonder if virtual memory is also used for the kernel?

Thanks.

Tim
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  • On Windows, take a look at the performance tag on Task Manager. It shows paged and non-paged kernel memory. Paged is virtual. – Carey Gregory Apr 05 '16 at 00:50

1 Answers1

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The answers are SOMETIMES and USUALLY.

Parts of the kernel cannot be paged. For example, if the page fault handler had to be paged itself, nothing could be paged.

Part of an operating system design is to determine which parts of the kernel can be paged and which cannot. This includes paged kernel heap memory. Often there are separate allocation mechanisms for kernel paged and non-paged pools.

One would also try to make as much of the kernel as possible pageable for better performance.

user3344003
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