Jesus 'n Jim
A PC and somewhat Mac oriented site with Software and Repair Info and How-To's on Using Computers

 

microsoft OS's [not] limited to 32 processors

also in winnt.h I found #define MAXIMUM_PROCESSORS 32. This explains why microsoft OS's are not used in SMP systems. We now have the i7, a 4-core processor that thinks it's 8 through hyperthreading. There was something special I learned about the number of processors that I can't tell you, but it may be invalid nowadays anyway since code has become more and more multithreaded.

I found out by someone who writes mingw that that is not what this is for.

...the docs for SetThreadIdealProcessor() says:

"On a system with more than 64 processors, this function sets the preferred processor to a logical processor in the processor group to which the calling thread is assigned. Use the SetThreadIdealProcessorEx function to specify a processor group and preferred processor."

Service Packs

Service Pack 4 (SP4) is the last service pack available

you can get it here. it contains many updates and is cumulative, one of which is the update to break the 137GB(128GiB) disk-size barrier, if your motherboard and system BIOS support 48-bit LBA (disks larger than 137GB).

support for disks larger than 137GB(128GiB), or 137GB(128GiB) barrier broken

Service Pack 3 and Service Pack 4 contain the partial fix, but it is not enabled. GOTCHAS:Enabling it can cause system corruption if your motherboard/BIOS combination cannot handle 48-bit LBA. there may be a workaround: read on.

you can get SP4. It contains many updates and is cumulative, one of which is the update to break the 137GB(128GiB) disk-size barrier, if your motherboard and system BIOS support 48-bit LBA (disks larger than 137GB).

  1. One way you can make sure your system can handle larger disks is to update the BIOS on your motherboard, but only if the manufacturer says it is OK (some say update, some say don't).
  2. the next step is to apply SP4.
  3. read this kb article all the way through!, check the registry value it mentions, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameter\EnableBigLba=DWORD:1 you may or may not want to try setting this value (here is a .reg file to do it), but it depends on whether you are willing to lose your data (at least according to the article), so have an OS or System Restore disc handy, and also have a disc with SP4 on it handy.

you can maybe swap step 1 and step 2. It is possible it makes no difference. I do not know.