windows-itpro-docs/windows/keep-secure/lock-pages-in-memory.md

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Lock pages in memory (Windows 10)	Describes the best practices, location, values, policy management, and security considerations for the Lock pages in memory security policy setting.	cc724979-aec0-496d-be4e-7009aef660a3	security	W10	deploy	library	brianlic-msft

Lock pages in memory

Applies to

• Windows 10 Describes the best practices, location, values, policy management, and security considerations for the Lock pages in memory security policy setting.

Reference

This policy setting determines which accounts can use a process to keep data in physical memory, which prevents the computer from paging the data to virtual memory on a disk. Normally, an application running on Windows can negotiate for more physical memory, and in response to the request, the application begins to move the data from RAM (such as the data cache) to a disk. When the pageable memory is moved to a disk, more RAM is free for the operating system to use. Enabling this policy setting for a specific account (a user account or a process account for an application) prevents paging of the data. Thereby, the amount of memory that Windows can reclaim under pressure is limited. This could lead to performance degradation. Note   By configuring this policy setting, the performance of the Windows operating system will differ depending on if applications are running on 32-bit or 64-bit systems, and if they are virtualized images. Performance will also differ between earlier and later versions of the Windows operating system.   Constant: SeLockMemoryPrivilege

Possible values

• User-defined list of accounts
• Not defined

Best practices

Best practices are dependent on the platform architecture and the applications running on those platforms.

Location

Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment

Default values

The following table lists the actual and effective default policy values for the most recent supported versions of Windows. Default values are also listed on the policy’s property page.

Server type or GPO	Default value
Default Domain Policy	Not defined
Default Domain Controller Policy	Not defined
Stand-Alone Server Default Settings	Not defined
Domain Controller Effective Default Settings	Not defined
Member Server Effective Default Settings	Not defined
Client Computer Effective Default Settings	Not defined

  ## Policy management This section describes features, tools, and guidance to help you manage this policy. A restart of the computer is not required for this policy setting to be effective. Any change to the user rights assignment for an account becomes effective the next time the owner of the account logs on. ### Group Policy Settings are applied in the following order through a Group Policy Object (GPO), which will overwrite settings on the local computer at the next Group Policy update: 1. Local policy settings 2. Site policy settings 3. Domain policy settings 4. OU policy settings When a local setting is greyed out, it indicates that a GPO currently controls that setting. ## Security considerations This section describes how an attacker might exploit a feature or its configuration, how to implement the countermeasure, and the possible negative consequences of countermeasure implementation. ### Vulnerability Users with the **Lock pages in memory** user right could assign physical memory to several processes, which could leave little or no RAM for other processes and result in a denial-of-service condition. ### Countermeasure Do not assign the **Lock pages in memory** user right to any accounts. ### Potential impact None. Not defined is the default configuration. ## Related topics [User Rights Assignment](user-rights-assignment.md)