Memtest86 is thorough, stand alone memory test for x86 architecture computers. BIOS based memory tests are a quick, cursory check and often miss many of the failures that are detected by Memtest86.

Memtest86 was developed by Chris Brady with a first release in 1994. However, the testing algorithms used have been under development since 1981 and have been previously implemented on Dec PDP-11, VAX-11/780 and Cray XMP architectures. Development and distribution of Memtest86 is now funded and supported by BradyTech Inc.

Memtest86 is released under the terms of the Gnu Public License (GPL).

Windows Installation
For windows installation begin by downloading either the Pre-Compiled Windows package to build a boot-able floppy disk or an ISO (zip version) to create a boot-able CD-ROM. After the file is downloaded an extract must be done to uncompress the file(s). To extract right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract All" option. The extract option will let you choose where the files will be extracted to. To build a bootable floppy go the the folder where the files were extracted and click on the Install icon. The floppy disk will appear to be unformatted by Windows after the install is complete.

To build a boot-able CD-ROM use your CD burning software to create an image from the un-zipped ISO file.

Note: Since Memtest86 is a standalone program it does not require any operating system support for execution. It can be used with any PC regardless of what operating system, if any, is installed. The test image may be loaded from a floppy disk or may be loaded via LILO on Linux systems. Any Unix, Windows or DOS system may be used to create a boot floppy or bootable CD-ROM.

This ISO includes a boot menu that allows selection of version 3.5, version 3.4 and the experimental SMP version of 3.5 that supports multiple CPUs.