"not enough memory to start Domain"

User Support
1

I have 8gb of ram, this only detected 4gb, i try start a VM with 3 or 4 gb of ram, its necessary.

2

I also want to mention that in my previous operating system the RAM did detect me correctly

3

Qubes OS does not handle memory like other Linux Distros. It uses a complex system to manage memory. You could read more about it here.

That 4GB you see is allocated only to dom0 (used usually for management, storage and most probably for Audio and GUI/Video). Since you have only 8GB of Memory, there will be only 4GB left for other service VMs and AppVMs. You should manage your memory more carefully since you have limited memory.

  • You could reduce dom0 memory usage (maybe to 2GB). Here is a forum thread on how to do it.
  • You could reduce initial memory and maximum memory for Service VMs (sys-net, sys-firewall, sys-usb). I am personally using around half a Gigabyte for each of them.
  • You could disable sys-whonix autostart and launch it only when you need it.
  • You could install minimal templates and use them for Service VMs. Here is the official guide.

Whatever you do, always take notes of previous values. So you could revert them back to original value if needed.

4

It still seems strange to me, I was reviewing other cases similar to mine, and there are users who comment that they have 16 and 32GB

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5

Yes. It is strange at the beginning. I have 12GBs and I will get the not enough memory to start Domain error if I want to start Windows 11 VM while some other VMs are running. Qubes OS is an operating system that loves a lot of memory.

6

These people are referring to the total RAM on their systems.
dom0 recognises the amount set at boot - 4GB by default. The remainder
of RAM is set aside for use by the qubes. If you have 32GB RAM, 28GB
will be for the qubes.
Qubes handles allocation of memory between qubes as they need
@alimirjamali has given you some good pointers on working with low
memory systems. The default work well in most cases.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.

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