Diagnose memory problems on your PC

If Windows detects possible problems with your PC's memory, it will prompt you to run the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.

How to run the Memory Diagnostics Tool

When you get notified that your PC might have a memory problem, tap or click the notification to choose between two options for when to run the Memory Diagnostics Tool: restart now or later. We recommend you restart now.

The Memory Diagnostics Tool will run automatically after you restart your PC, and it might take several minutes for it to finish checking your PC's memory. If the tool finds errors, you should contact your PC manufacturer for info about fixing them, since memory errors usually indicate a problem with the memory chips in your PC or other hardware problems.

The Memory Diagnostics Tool dialog boxMemory Diagnostics Tool dialog box

To run the Memory Diagnostics Tool manually

If the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool doesn't run automatically, you can run it manually.

  1. Tap or click to open the Memory Diagnostics Tool.‌ Administrator permission required You might be asked for an admin password or to confirm your choice.

  2. Choose when to run the tool.

    The Memory Diagnostics Tool will run after you restart your computer.

  3. Once the Memory Diagnostics Tool has completed and Windows has restarted, tap or click Desktop on the Start screen. The test results will appear in a Windows Memory Diagnostic notification. You can also find the Memory Diagnostics Tool results in Event Viewer.

How to find Memory Diagnostics Tool results in Event Viewer

  1. Open Event Viewer by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Search (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Search), entering Event Viewer in the search box, tapping or clicking Settings, and then tapping or clicking View event logs.

  2. Under Windows Logs, tap or click System, and then under Actions tap or click Filter Current Log.

  3. Tap or click the Event sources drop-down, select MemoryDiagnostics-Results, and then tap or click OK.

  4. From the filtered list, click an event to view its results.

Advanced options for running the Memory Diagnostics Tool

We recommend that you let the Memory Diagnostics Tool run automatically. However, advanced users might want to change the tool's settings.

To change settings

  1. When the Memory Diagnostics Tool starts, press F1.

  2. You can change the following settings:

    • Test mix. Choose what type of test you want to run: Basic, Standard, or Extended. The choices are described in the tool.

    • Cache. Choose the cache setting you want for each test: Default, On, or Off.

    • Pass count. Enter the number of times you want to repeat the test.

  3. Press F10 to start the test.

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