As I was scanning a friends computer during bootup, avast told me that the pagefile.sys had been infected. Me being an idiot (I really do not know what I was thinking) deleted it. The computer seems to be running ok, but I know the pagefile.sys is needed. Is there anyway to get it back? I am really at a loss and and running out of options of where to look for help. WHen I go to My computer>properties>advanced>performance>virtual memory and look at the settings it tells me that my VM is set too 756-1500mb. which is fine. Only when i search under c:\ (view hidden files) I cannot find a pagefile.sys Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I’m surprised you were able to delete pagefile.sys. It’s normally not possible while Windows is running, but if it was deleted I think it will be recreated on your next boot.
In order to see the file you need to uncheck Hide Protected Operating System Files in your folder options (this is not the same as Show Hidden Files and Folders).
I was running the boot-scan when i deleted the pagefile.sys. It asked me if I was sure I wanted to delete a system file, it had been a very long day and the first thing my brain popped into my head was ‘sys files do not belong in the root.’ (Like I said, very long day, I do know better, really)
I will check that setting (well, uncheck) when I am back over there. If per chance, it really is gone, any other ideas? I have already rebooted, well attempted to reboot numerous times. I keep changing the VM settings. No page file, then custom etc. and attempting to reboot, but each time I try (even using shutdown -f -r -t 0) it gets to just the wallpaper (no icons, no toolbars, only pointer) and hangs there. so I have to end up doing a hard shutdown so I am not entirely sure if Windows saved my changes completely or not. When I go back into the VM settings, the changes are visibly there, just not sure if the physical (virtual) changes were actually made.
DeathsDesign, did you try to change this setting is safe mode, increasing the virtual memory (pagefile.sys size)?
If the pagefile.sys is not created/increased, you can try copying this big file from another computer. I did this twice in my life: one time it worked, other time doesn’t.