Is There Any Way to Increase the Ram my Windows 7 is Using?

It's the 64-bit version. When I set up the Parallels VM, I did so AFTER I had installed Windows 7 using boot camp assistant. I "selected" the already installed bootcamp Windows 7 installation. The Parallels preference pane allows me to either leave RAM automatic or set manually, but even if I allocate 8GB that way and then start up Windows 7 from within Parallels, the actual startup screen as well as the System information within Windows 7 says there's only 1024mb of RAM.

I'm having a simultaneous problem in that I can't start up Windows 7 any longer using Boot Camp, so although I've tried to do that to see if Windows 7 would THEN recognize my full 12GB of RAM, which I would expect it would, I haven't been able to do that. I WAS able to boot from boot camp into Windows 7 when I first installed it, but then I just used Parallels. Now, after adding the 8GB of additional memory tonight, I tried booting from boot camp and it wouldn't do so. I posted elsewhere regarding that issue.

Parallels allows me to control the RAM Parallels is using, but when I open up Windows 7 using Parallels and check my memory usage, it only shows a grand total of 1024mb of RAM available to processes. Windows 7, even as a Parallels VM, thinks it only has that much hardware memory to access.

As I said, I can't boot up into Windows 7 using boot camp at the moment. I tried going into msconfig via the VM in Parallels and tried to adjust the boot memory, but it maxed out at 1024 and wouldn't let me adjust it higher, only lower.

When I search for upgrading RAM on Windows 7 I naturally find solutions that simply say that after I've installed the add'l RAM just restart and Windows will recognize and begin to use the upgrade RAM. Those articles and help pieces obviously aren't dealing with a bootcamp partition. I'm still hoping someone here knows how to increase the RAM allocated to a bootcamp partition AFTER the initial install.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of re-installing the entire Windows 7 partition now that I have the 12GB, but as I first pointed out I cannot remember, nor can I find searching here or anywhere else online, whether there actually is a SETTING step for allocating the amount of RAM a bootcamp partition will use. Guides I've found to running boot camp assistant don't mention it. If someone here can jog my memory by giving me more info on how the RAM for one of these installs is set then I could go ahead and erase what I've installed and do it over, this time allocating 4GB of RAM to the Windows installation. But I need to know HOW before I take this drastic step

If someone knows how to increase the RAM allocated to a Windows 7 64-bit bootcamp partition sometime AFTER the initial setup, i.e. for example when more RAM's been purchased and installed, as in my case, I (and others who will run into this issue) would greatly appreciate someone sharing how it is done.

Thank God for Parallels 5! Turns out I was able to increase the RAM allocated to the VM Windows 7 using "Configure" on that VM in Parallels, and the Windows 7 system within Parallels, once started, says it's using the full 4096mb of "hardware" memory I've allocated.

Ran a number of programs and watched within the Resource Monitor and sure enough I was using up more than the initial 1024mb I was stuck with when I first asked the question. So my Parallels VM of Windows 7 has been successfully configured to take advantage of my additional RAM.

The question as to whether it is possible to increase the RAM of a bootcamp installation of Windows 7 64-bit AFTER it has initially been installed remains. But as I'm perfectly happy to use the Parallels VM version of that installation (are they one and the same? This has never been clear to me, although I did "choose" the bootcamp installation when I first configured the Parallels VM) my main concern has been addressed.

No doubt others will still want to know HOW you upgrade the RAM allocation to a bootcamp Windows 7 installation; hopefully someone will answer one way or the other whether this is even possible to do after the initial install.

Yes, I see. I'd probably know that too if I could still BOOT into my Windows 7 installation using Boot Camp; then it would have been obvious to me. But since for whatever reason I can no longer do that this truth has not been as apparent to me as it would have been.