Week 2 Lab Activity: Resource Allocation and Management on Windows
Objective: Students will learn how to monitor system resources, allocate system resources to
specific processes, and evaluate system performance using the Windows operating system.
The goal is to familiarize students with tools such as Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and
Windows Command Line to manage CPU, memory, and disk usage.
Tools Required:
● Windows Operating System
● Access to Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Command Prompt
Lab Instructions:
Part 1: Monitoring System Resources
1. Open Task Manager
○ Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
○ Go to the Performance tab.
○ Record the current usage of CPU, Memory, and Disk. Observe the number of
processes running.
2. Open Resource Monitor
○ In Task Manager, click Open Resource Monitor at the bottom of the
Performance tab.
○ Explore the CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network tabs.
○ Identify any process that is using a significant amount of resources.
○ Write down the most resource-consuming process in each category.
Part 2: Allocating Resources Using Command Prompt
1. Limit CPU Usage for a Process:
○ Open Command Prompt as Administrator (right-click and select "Run as
administrator").
Use the following command to find the PID (Process ID) of a running process (e.g., Notepad):
bash
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tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq notepad.exe"
○
Set the priority of the Notepad process to low:
bash
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wmic process where "name='notepad.exe'" CALL setpriority 64
○ Check the new priority in Task Manager under the Details tab.
2. Allocate Memory to a Process:
○ Launch Notepad and keep it running.
Open Command Prompt and type:
bash
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tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq notepad.exe"
○ Take note of the Memory Usage in the Task Manager under the Processes tab.
○ Use the Resource Monitor to check memory consumption in detail.
Part 3: Analyzing Resource Performance
1. Monitor Resource Performance:
○ Run multiple applications like a web browser, Notepad, and a media player.
○ Open Task Manager and track how system resource usage changes.
○ In the Performance tab of Task Manager, identify spikes in CPU and Memory.
2. Generate a Performance Report:
○ Use Performance Monitor (Type "perfmon" in the Start menu and press Enter).
○ Go to Data Collector Sets > System > System Performance.
○ Right-click System Performance and click Start to run a report for 60 seconds.
○ After the report finishes, find it in Reports > System > System Performance.
Part 4: Resource Termination and Cleanup
1. Terminate a Process:
○ Identify a process using a high amount of resources (e.g., Notepad).
Open Command Prompt and type:
bash
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taskkill /IM notepad.exe /F
○ Verify that the process is no longer running in Task Manager.
2. Check System Performance After Resource Termination:
○ Recheck CPU and Memory usage in Task Manager after terminating
unnecessary processes.
○ Compare system performance before and after the termination.
Submission:
● Submit screenshots of:
○ Task Manager showing CPU, Memory, and Disk usage.
○ Resource Monitor identifying resource-heavy processes.
○ Command Prompt showing the change in process priority and process
termination.
○ The Performance Monitor report generated during the lab.
