Windows memory diagnostic vs memtest (Quick Answer)

I’ll explain you here all about Windows memory diagnostic vs memtest. We’ll concentrate on contrasting WMD with MemTest86. Windows Memory Diagnostic is a fairly capable RAM diagnostic program. However, the MemTest86 tool does a more thorough analysis utilizing more sophisticated and reliable tests.

One of your computer’s most delicate components is its RAM. It frequently happens that a RAM stick will experience problems and bring the entire PC down with it. So it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your RAM and prevent it from harming other computer components.

Thankfully, there are tools for monitoring the RAM. Two of the most well-liked and practical tools for this purpose are Windows Memory Diagnostic and MemTest. By reading on, discover how they work and which would be more appropriate for your scenario.

MemTest86 is a more potent tool; the original MemTest isn’t being actively developed anymore, acquiring it from a reliable source has become a problem, and so forth.

MemTest86 will detect any problems with your RAM. It ensures that various memory bits won’t interact and cause errors or corruption, in addition to verifying that the RAM accepts and delivers arbitrary data patterns. In conclusion, MemTest86 is the memory testing program you should use if you can only have one.

However, utilizing both would be the best course of action! Start with MemTest86 as your primary test, and if it identifies a RAM error, switch to Windows Memory Diagnostic to confirm it.

Which RAM corruption test, Memtest86 or Windows Memory Diagnostic, is superior?

They check for corrupt RAM. Malicious software, like viruses, or poorly built drivers, can lead to RAM corruption. Corruptions are also caused by bad RAM, but this would be noticed at startup. For this reason, your computer beeps during POST and shows numbers on the motherboard. Incorrect memory areas are discovered and frequently tagged as unusable, or the firmware generates error codes and refuses to boot.

A debugger is necessary if you wish to identify memory corruption. You receive no memory corruption warnings besides crashing, BSODing, or having a vibrantly colored display. Memory tests won’t reveal the problem because it’s most likely software accessing a critical process that it shouldn’t be and corrupting it. You require ECC memory to prevent memory corruption caused by hardware issues. ECC corrects minor errors. However, you require enterprise-grade hardware, which is far more expensive (and forget overclock).

How Can You Access Windows Memory Diagnostics?

If you have access to your operating system and Windows boots up normally, look for the Windows Memory Diagnostic program because some Windows editions come with it preinstalled:

• In the Windows search box, type “Windows Memory Diagnostic,” and then launch the app that appears in the results.
• A box will appear once you click it. Pick “Restart now and check for problems” from the menu.
• Immediately after restarting your computer, the Windows Memory Diagnostic test screen will appear. You won’t be able to use your computer during the test’s several minutes. Both a progress meter and a status section that alerts you to any faults it discovers are visible.
• After the test is finished, your computer will reboot on its own, and Windows will start up with the test results shown. In the unlikely event that Windows doesn’t display the results, follow these steps to locate it:
• Select Event Viewer with a right-click on the Start button.
• Click System after expanding the Windows Logs area in the left pane.
• In the Find box, type “MemoryDiagnostic” and click Find Next in the right pane.
• Look at the test results listed at the window’s bottom.

You will need to download the Windows Memory Diagnostic to a bootable CD or flash drive and run it that way if your machine doesn’t already have Windows installed on it or if it can’t start the OS for any reason.

• On a functional machine, download the Windows Memory Diagnostic utility.
• Launch the mtinst.exe program, and select Save CD Image to Disk after clicking Accept.
• Click OK to confirm saving the windiag.iso ISO image to your desktop.
• Create a disk or USB flash drive from the ISO image file. Check out these movies for guidance because the procedure is a little different from burning an ordinary file:

Windows Memory Diagnostic will launch as soon as you boot the CD or USB drive into the PC you want to test.

How Can You Access MemTest?

One of the only trustworthy sources where you can find MemTest for download now that MemTest86 has largely replaced MemTest is Softpedia. Run the software after extracting the zip file. MemTest86, on the other hand, is available for download from its website.

The only way to boot the most recent version of MemTest86 is from a USB flash drive, which shouldn’t pose a problem for modern machines. However, you must download the v7.5 version or earlier if you need to execute the program from a CD/DVD.

The steps for running MemTest86 are as follows:

• Download and unzip the memtest86-usb.zip file.
• Connect a USB flash drive to your computer and backup all of the data it currently has. This process will delete its data.
• Launch the extracted imageUSB.exe file.
• When the window appears, click the Write button after choosing the appropriate USB drive in Step 1 and ensuring the memtest86-USB.img file is selected in Step 3.
• Start the computer from the bootable USB once it is accessible.
• Click the Config button when the Memtest86 screen appears. There are a few details regarding your PC’s parts, including the RAM and CPU, that you may find.
• Select Test to Begin. The Test bar will show you how far along the currently running test is, and the Pass bar will show you how thorough the entire set of tests is.
• The message “Pass complete, no errors, press Esc to exit” will appear if one Pass is finished without any mistakes. To quit and restart your computer, press Esc.

Windows Memory Diagnostic Pros & Cons:

It’s an excellent alternative even though it’s not the greatest RAM test tool available:

What We Enjoy

• Anyone can use the application for nothing at all.
  • Very compact download
  • To use the utility, Windows does not need to be running or installed.
  • The benefits of using this are accessible to everyone.
  • The automatic memory test doesn’t need any human input.

Things We Dislike

• Creating starter disks and CD images involves different processes.
  • Only the first 4GB of RAM will be tested.

More about Windows Memory Diagnostic:

Although Windows Memory Diagnostic has extended test choices, none of them are required for a typical memory test.

• Several tests are run to identify the elusive memory hardware issues.
  • Windows Memory Diagnostic memory test sets will keep running until the computer shuts down.
  • No specific operating system is required to conduct memory testing.
  • Windows 7’s System Recovery tools come with Windows Memory Diagnostic.

My last words:

In a nutshell all about Windows memory diagnostic vs. memtest one of the better free memory testing apps is Windows Memory Diagnostic. It has served as a backup assessment whenever Memtest86 identifies a memory issue. Visit Softpedia.com’s Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic download page to get started. Microsoft no longer hosts this program, which is a shame. Pick one of the download URLs after selecting DOWNLOAD NOW on the left; both should work.

Run mtinst.exe after downloading. Save the windiag.iso ISO image to your desktop by choosing Accept and then Save CD Image to Disk. You can choose OK to close the other window on the confirmation box. The ISO file must now be burned to a CD. You will need to utilize a disc because we could not get WMD properly burned on a USB drive, such as a flash disk.

Burning an ISO file is different than burning other types of files. After burning the ISO image to the CD, restart your computer using the disc in the optical drive to boot to the CD. The testing of your RAM will commence as soon as Windows Memory Diagnostic launches.

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