How to Increase the Java Applet Memory Limit

Problem: The Java plugin in your web browser has run out of memory
Cause: The memory limit for the Java plugin is usually around 60-90 MB
Solution: Increase the Java Applet memory limit (see steps below)

  1. First, make sure that you are running the most recent version of Sun's Java (1.6), which has memory improvemements (and security updates) over prior Java versions. Installing Java 1.6 along may fix your out of memory errors. How to install Java 1.6 now.

    --- The following instructions assume Java 1.6 is already installed ---

  2. Click on 'Start'
    Start
  3. Click on 'Control Panel'
    Control Panel
  4. Double click on the 'Java Plug-in' icon (which may be under 'Other Control Panel Options').
    Java Plug-in   Other Options
  5. Select the 'Java' tab and click on the 'View...' button, under the 'Java Applet Runtime Settings' section.
    Java Control Panel
  6. Find the most recent 'Version' Java runtime line (below: 1.5.0_06 is more recent than 1.5.0_05) and double click on the 'Java Runtime Parameters' box and add "-Xmx300m" (set Java maximum heap size to 300 MB) as you see below. For some unknown reason, some computers with large amounts of installed memory are limited to how much memory they can assign to their Java VM. If you experience problems, just reduce the "300" to some smaller number (like 250, 200, 150, etc)
    Java Runtime Settings
  7. Click 'OK' to exit all dialogs. Close the control panel window.

  8. Important: Exit ALL web browser windows.