Pagefile.sys & Hiberfil.sys (Virtual Memory)

Location

Description

Pagefile.sys contains memory pages swapped to disk by the Windows memory manager. Hiberfil.sys contains a compressed copy of all physical memory written during hibernation or Fast Startup shutdown, effectively serving as a full memory snapshot.

Forensic Value

Virtual memory files contain fragments of process memory that were paged to disk, including credentials, decrypted content, command-line arguments, and malware code. Hiberfil.sys is particularly valuable as it represents a complete RAM capture at the last hibernation, recoverable even from a dead system. Strings analysis and carving can extract passwords, URLs, encryption keys, and remnants of in-memory-only malware that left no disk artifacts.

Tools Required