Stop code SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION when initializing PMem or NVDIMM in Windows

Applies to:   Supported versions of Windows Server and Windows Client

This article provides a method to avoid the stop code SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION when you try to initialize a persistent memory (PMem) or non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM) device in Windows.

Stop code when initializing PMem or NVDIMM devices

You create a 64-bit version of Windows virtual machine. Then, you add a persistent memory (PMem) or non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM) device with a size less than 16 megabytes (MB) as a PMem disk. When you try to initialize the disk by using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition style in Disk Management, the initialization fails with this stop code:

SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION

Use devices with a larger size to avoid this issue

Windows supports PMem or NVDIMM devices (both physical and virtual) with a minimum size of 16 MB. If the size is less than 16 MB, the disk may not be initialized and used.

Note

The PMem support in Windows was first introduced in Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10.

To avoid this issue, use a PMem or NVDIMM device with a size of 16 MB or larger.

For more information about creating a persistent memory disk in an unused persistent memory region, see the New-PmemDisk cmdlet.