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        <title>Windows Server 2012 2016 2019 2022 RAM Disk Setup Guide</title>
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            <h1>Windows Server 2012 2016 2019 2022 RAM Disk Setup Guide</h1>
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          <p><em>NOTE: RAM disks by their very nature are cleared on reboot. Do not use them to store any data that cannot be lost. A suitable use case would be temporary session files for a web server</em></p>

<h2>Installing iSCSI Target Server</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Launch Server Manager if it does not automatically load
	<ol>
		<li>Click the Start button &gt; Server Manager</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Click Manage &gt; Add roles and features</li>
	<li>Click Next on the Before you begin screen</li>
	<li>Select Role-based or feature-based installation &gt; Next</li>
	<li>Leave Select a server from the server pool selected and select the current server &gt; Next</li>
	<li>Expand File and Storage Services &gt; Expand File and iSCSI Services &gt; Select iSCSI Target Server</li>
	<li>A popup will appear with additional required roles and features, click the Add Features button</li>
	<li>Click Next</li>
	<li>Click Next on the Select features screen</li>
	<li>Click Install on the confirmation screen</li>
	<li>Leave the installation progress screen open until the install completes</li>
</ol>

<h2>Creating the RAM Disk</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Launch Powershell as administrator</li>
	<li>Enter the following commands to create the RAM disk, replacing the IP address with the current server&#39;s IP address
	<div class="codeBlock PS"># allow iSCSI loopback registry setting<br />
	Set-ItemProperty -Path &#39;HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\iSCSI Target&#39; -Name AllowLoopBack -Value 1<br />
	# start the iscsi initiator service<br />
	Start-Service -Name MSiSCSI<br />
	# set the iscsi initiator service to start automatically<br />
	Set-Service -Name MSiSCSI -StartupType Automatic<br />
	# create the ram disk, changing size as needed<br />
	New-IscsiVirtualDisk -Path &quot;ramdisk:RAMDisk.vhdx&quot; -Size 256MB<br />
	# initialize iSCSI target<br />
	New-IscsiServerTarget -TargetName RAMDisk -InitiatorIds @(&quot;IPAddress:192.168.0.65&quot;)<br />
	# connect to the ram disk<br />
	Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping -TargetName RAMDisk -DevicePath &quot;ramdisk:RAMDisk.vhdx&quot;</div>
	</li>
	<li>Back in Server Manager, select Tools &gt; iSCSI Initiator</li>
	<li>Enter the IP address in the Target field &gt; Click Quick Connect...</li>
	<li>Click Done</li>
	<li>Back in Powershell, run the following command
	<div class="codeBlock PS"># initialize the disk as NTFS<br />
	Get-Disk | Where partitionstyle -eq &#39;raw&#39; | Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle MBR -PassThru | New-Partition -DriveLetter R -UseMaximumSize | Format-Volume -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel &quot;RAMDisk&quot; -Confirm:$false</div>
	</li>
	<li>Open File Explorer and the new RAM disk should be listed as a usable NTFS drive</li>
</ol>

<h2>Re-creating the RAM Disk on Boot</h2>

<p><em>After the RAM disk has been setup initially, follow the steps below to have it recreated on system boot.</em></p>

<ol>
	<li>Open a text editor</li>
	<li>Paste the following Powershell commands, changing the size as needed
	<p>New-IscsiVirtualDisk -Path &quot;ramdisk:RAMDisk.vhdx&quot; -Size 256MB<br />
	Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping -TargetName RAMDisk -DevicePath &quot;ramdisk:RAMDisk.vhdx&quot;<br />
	Get-Disk | Where partitionstyle -eq &#39;raw&#39; | Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle MBR -PassThru | New-Partition -DriveLetter R -UseMaximumSize | Format-Volume -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel &quot;RAMDisk&quot; -Confirm:$false</p>
	</li>
	<li>Save the file as ramdisk.ps1 to a safe location to run from, c:\scripts for example</li>
	<li>Click on the Start Button &gt; Type task &gt; Launch Task Scheduler</li>
	<li>Right click the Task Scheduler Library folder in the left pane &gt; Create Basic Task...</li>
	<li>Set the name to RAM Disk and optionally set a Description &gt; Click Next</li>
	<li>For the Trigger, select When the computer starts &gt; Click Next</li>
	<li>For the Action, select Start a program &gt; Click Next</li>
	<li>In the Program/script field, paste the following:
	<p>C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe</p>
	</li>
	<li>In the Add arguments field, paste the following, editing the path to the .ps1 file if necessary:
	<p>&quot;C:\Scripts\ramdisk.ps1&quot;</p>
	</li>
	<li>Click Next</li>
	<li>Check the Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish box</li>
	<li>Click Finish</li>
	<li>In the Properties dialog, click the Change User or Group... button</li>
	<li>Type system &gt; Press Enter</li>
	<li>Check the Run with highest privileges box</li>
	<li>Click OK to create the scheduled task</li>
	<li>Reboot the server to verify the RAM disk is re-created automatically</li>
</ol>
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