Java Virtual Machine memory limit

If you allocate too much memory for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the operating system will not initialize it. Diagnosing the issue can be difficult because the service does not start and no error log is written. An entry is written to the Windows Application log with the description “Could not initialize the Java Virtual Machine” but the reason is not specified.

The amount of memory you can allocate to the JVM depends on how much total memory exists on the computer. The more total memory, the more you can allocate to the JVM before the operating system imposes a limit. In tests on a 4 GB system, allocating 1.1 GB to the JVM resulted in failure to initialize.