everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

If you are experiencing problems with "Everything", post here for assistance.
Post Reply
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

Hi,

I installed everything 1.4.1.1028-x64 on a Windows Server 2022 (8 GB RAM) running as a service with default settings. The server contains a lot of files/folders.

When using everything command line tool and executing "es * -export-efu result.efu", everything crashes with "out of memory"-error. The exact error message is:
".\src\mem.c(734): mem_allow(): Fatal error: out of memory ffffffffcb1bac16"

My goal is to daily create a complete file list of that system (to be able to easily detect file changes in the past, e.g. when a certain file was deleted). The daily creation will be wrapped in a script.

The memory of the server is not really getting to its limits. Do I need to start everything with an option to be able to reserve more memory?

Best regards,
UT2025
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by void »

Everything 1.4 is limited to 2GB ES requests.

Anything larger than that and you will see this error.



Some suggestions:

Limit the ES results.
Try a drive or folder at a time:
ES C: -export-efu c-results.efu
ES D: -export-efu d-results.efu
ES E: -export-efu e-results.efu



Everything 1.5 will not have this limitation.
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

Thank you for your fast reply!

Sad to hear that ES is limited to 2GB. Dividing the command to several drives did not solve the problem.

Is there any risk in using Everything 1.5 Alpha on a production system?

It seems ES-1.1.0.33.x64 is not yet compatible to Everything 1.5, because "Error 8: Everything IPC not found" is thrown.

So currently there's no possibility to generate that file list automatically everyday, is it?

Best regards,
UT2025

EDIT: Whoops, I was not careful enough. There is an option "instance 1.5a", which makes ES compatible to 1.5 Alpha.
Last edited by UT2025 on Thu Oct 02, 2025 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

Well, ES in combination with Everything 1.5 Alpha actually works as required, a complete searchable filelist is generated, excellent!

But it does not work automatically as a scheduled task in SYSTEM context. Indeed "Error 8: Everything IPC not found" is thrown, because there is actually no Everything GUI.

So there is no way to make it run automatically in the background?

Best regards,
UT2025
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by void »

For others to get ES working with Everything 1.5a:
Either:

If you don't have Everything 1.4 installed, disable the alpha instance:
  • In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the Advanced tab on the left.
  • To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
    alpha
  • Select: alpha_instance
  • Set the value to: false
  • Click OK.
  • Restart Everything (File -> Exit)

-or-


Connect ES to the 1.5a instance with:
es -instance 1.5a



So there is no way to make it run automatically in the background?
No, not without a logged in user.
ES queries the GUI process.



If you are not logged in, consider creating a file list with Everything.exe and -create-filelist

For example:

C:\Program Files\Everything\Everything.exe -create-filelist result.efu "c:";"d:";"e:\my backup folder"


where "c:";"d:";"e:\my backup folder" is a semicolon delimited list of folders.
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

everything.exe and -create-file-list works perfectly, thank you!

Is there a way to start "everything.exe -create-file-list" synchronously? everything.exe returns directly and performs the actual task in the background.
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by void »

-create-file-list is already a blocking call. (returns after the file list is created)
-create-file-list ignores any existing instances.
How are you calling Everything.exe? is there an option to wait for Everything.exe to return?
If you are calling Everything.exe multiple times, create a single BAT file to handle all your Everything calls.
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

Hi,

I am executing everything.exe (from portable 1.4.1.1028.x64) within PowerShell:
& $($PSScriptRoot + "\everything.exe") -create-file-list "$folder\$today.efu" "N:"
The command finishes directly.

Also when executing
everything.exe -create-file-list "mylist.efu" "N:"
within a windows command line it directly returns. I can see in TaskManager that it is continuing to run in the background.
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by void »

This is just how Powershell/cmd execute programs with the Windows subsystem.
(Everything.exe is not a console subsystem)

Please try the following powershell command:

Code: Select all

Start-Process -FilePath "$PSScriptRoot\Everything.exe" -ArgumentList "-create-filelist", "$folder\$today.txt", "N:" -Wait
UT2025
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2025 6:02 am

Re: everything x64 crashing with "out of memory"

Post by UT2025 »

This perfectly works...

Thanks again for your fast support and your great tool!
Post Reply