OSDev.org

msdn sais that windows uses the high 1 or 2 gb of VAS for the system. And, that 2 gb of VAS is used by the process. I'm confused, does the system map itself into VAS? what does the system use the high 2gb for?

How does the OS keep track of how much memory its using? does it make a call to the memory controller to find out or does it keep track by some other means?

How would you want to run kernel or application code if it wasn't there?

icealys6 wrote:How does the OS keep track of how much memory its using?

Same way it keeps track of users, files and other things: data structures. Those pesky lists, stacks, trees and hash tables. Did you expect there to be magic?