Windows 11 Is Testing a Hidden Unified Memory Setting

Microsoft is quietly building a way for Windows 11 users to control how much memory goes toward graphics and AI tasks. The option showed up in a recent Insider build and points to bigger changes coming for PCs that share one memory pool across the processor, graphics chip, and AI accelerator.

What Is Unified Memory in Windows 11

Unified memory is a single pool of high-bandwidth memory that the CPU, GPU, and AI accelerators all draw from. A traditional gaming PC keeps things separate: the CPU uses system RAM while the graphics card has its own dedicated VRAM. Unified memory setups skip that split entirely, letting every processor pull from the same pot.

This design matters more now because newer chips pack the CPU, GPU, and NPU onto a single piece of silicon. Local AI models often need more memory than a typical laptop GPU carries on its own, so a shared pool gives those models room to run.

The Feature Microsoft Is Testing

The setting appeared in Windows 11 build 29648, released on August 17, 2026, under an unreleased internal name, IntelligentCarveout. It ships with a new SettingsHandlers_UnifiedMemory.dll file and can be surfaced using ViveTool, a command-line utility that toggles hidden, unfinished Windows features on and off.

Once active, it adds a Unified memory section under Settings > System > Advanced, with a control called Memory for graphics and AI acceleration. The listed options include Custom, Recommended, High, Maximum, and Don’t allow, and early builds show a manual slider alongside the presets. The setting’s own description string lays out the trade-off plainly: reserving memory for graphics and AI intensive apps means that memory stops being available to anything else.

Task Manager already shows a “Shared GPU Memory” figure, and it’s easy to assume this new setting just repackages that number. It doesn’t. Shared GPU Memory is a flexible ceiling, meaning system RAM the GPU is allowed to borrow as needed, generally up to around half of total memory depending on the hardware, OEM, firmware, and drivers involved, and Windows shifts memory between dedicated and shared use on the fly. IntelligentCarveout works differently: memory set aside through it gets blocked off entirely, unavailable to regular apps until the reservation changes.

How the Unified Memory Reservation Works

Windows currently shifts shared memory around dynamically as apps ask for it. That works fine for everyday multitasking, but it starts to break down under heavy graphics or AI workloads, where background tasks and demanding apps compete for the same RAM. That competition can show up as latency spikes, dropped frames, or outright out-of-memory crashes.

Reserving memory ahead of time would let a demanding game or a local AI workload keep guaranteed access to fast memory, without other processes eating into it. Someone who mostly uses their machine for regular productivity work could instead lower the reservation and hand more memory back to the OS.

How to Enable IntelligentCarveout in Windows 11

This only works on hardware with an NPU, and the feature remains unfinished, so treat it as a preview rather than a stable tool. Here’s how to expose the hidden setting on supported devices:

1. Enroll in the Experimental channel. Join the Windows Insider Program and install build 29648 through the Experimental channel of the Feature Platforms version. Preview builds are also downloadable as ISO files from Microsoft’s Windows Insider Preview Downloads page while they remain available.

2. Confirm the PC has an NPU. The setting is gated to unified memory hardware, so it stays hidden on a conventional desktop with a discrete graphics card, regardless of build number.

3. Run the ViveTool command. Open an elevated Command Prompt in the folder where ViveTool is stored and enable the feature ID:

vivetool /enable /id:61121285

4. Restart the PC. The change only takes effect after a reboot.

5. Check Settings. Open Settings > System > Advanced and look for the new Unified memory section with the Memory for graphics and AI acceleration control. If it’s not there, the feature didn’t activate.

Why the Unified Memory Setting May Not Appear

If the section doesn’t show up after following those steps, a few things could be blocking it:

The PC lacks an NPU or a unified memory pool, so Windows never shows the section
The device isn’t running build 29648 on the Experimental channel of Feature Platforms
The ViveTool command was run without administrator rights, or the PC wasn’t restarted afterward
The feature itself is unfinished, and Microsoft has warned that experimental flags like this one can change or get pulled entirely

Treat what’s currently visible as a work in progress rather than the final design.

Which Hardware Supports Unified Memory

Chips that fuse the CPU, GPU, and NPU onto a single piece of silicon are the ones this targets. NVIDIA’s upcoming RTX Spark platform is the clearest example, pairing a Blackwell GPU with a Grace CPU and up to 128GB of shared LPDDR5X memory. Microsoft referenced unified memory improvements for Windows 11 back at Computex, the annual computing hardware trade show where the company first detailed its RTX Spark partnership with NVIDIA. AMD’s Ryzen AI Max chips use a similar unified memory approach, so the setting wouldn’t be limited to NVIDIA systems.

This fused-chip design is exactly what makes reserved memory useful. Without finer control, an app that needs heavy CPU resources can end up claiming most of the shared pool, leaving the GPU with less than it needs. A dedicated reservation system gives the GPU and NPU a guaranteed share instead of leaving allocation entirely to chance.

Microsoft hasn’t confirmed a release date or which Windows 11 version will carry the feature once it’s finished. For now, IntelligentCarveout remains tucked away in test builds, with no word on whether it reaches every Windows 11 PC or stays limited to unified memory hardware like Copilot+ PCs and RTX Spark systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Unified Memory on Windows 11?

It’s a shared pool of high-bandwidth memory that the CPU, GPU, and AI accelerators all draw from, instead of the GPU relying on its own separate VRAM.

Does my PC support the Unified Memory setting?

Only devices with a Neural Processing Unit support it, such as Copilot+ PCs and upcoming unified memory platforms like NVIDIA RTX Spark and AMD Ryzen AI Max.

Can I enable IntelligentCarveout right now?

It’s hidden inside Windows 11 build 29648 and can be exposed using ViveTool with the code 61121285, though it remains an unfinished, experimental feature.

What memory options does the feature offer?

Early builds show Custom, Recommended, High, Maximum, and Don’t allow presets, along with a manual slider for fine-tuning the reservation.

When will Microsoft officially release this feature?

Microsoft hasn’t announced a release date or confirmed which Windows 11 version will include it, so it could still change or get dropped before shipping.

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Windows 11 Is Testing a Hidden Unified Memory Setting for AI PCs