Memory Architecture

A version of this page is also available for

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

4/8/2010

In any Windows phone, ROM stores the entire OS, in addition to the applications that come with the OS design. Windows Mobile supports a 32-bit (4-GB) address space.

When a process initializes, the OS maps the following DLLs and memory components:

  • Some execute-in-place (XIP) DLLs
  • Some read/write sections of other XIP DLLs
  • All non-XIP DLLs
  • The stack
  • The heap
  • A data section for each process

DLLs are controlled by the loader, which loads all the DLLs at the same address for each process. The stack, the heap, and the executable (.exe) file are created and mapped from the bottom of the address space. The bottom 64 KB of memory always remains free.

DLLs and ROM DLL read/write sections are loaded starting at the top of the address space.

See Also

Concepts

Kernel Overview
Virtual Memory
Heaps
Stack
Static Data Blocks
Memory-mapped Files

Other Resources