500 Internal server error" while browsing to SharePoint 2013 sites

Symptoms

• Users get the error "500 Internal server error" while browsing to the any new sites on the SharePoint server.
• Open Task manager and we will notice Memory consumption at its peak.
• If we browse to securitytoken.svc on the IIS console we get the below error:

Server Error in '/SecurityTokenServiceApplication' Application.

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Memory gates checking failed because the free memory (914993152 bytes) is less than 5% of total memory. As a result, the service will not be available for incoming requests. To resolve this, either reduce the load on the machine or adjust the value of minFreeMemoryPercentageToActivateService on the serviceHostingEnvironment config element.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.InsufficientMemoryException: Memory gates checking failed because the free memory (914993152 bytes) is less than 5% of total memory. As a result, the service will not be available for incoming requests. To resolve this, either reduce the load on the machine or adjust the value of minFreeMemoryPercentageToActivateService on the serviceHostingEnvironment config element.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[InsufficientMemoryException: Memory gates checking failed because the free memory (914993152 bytes) is less than 5% of total memory. As a result, the service will not be available for incoming requests. To resolve this, either reduce the load on the machine or adjust the value of minFreeMemoryPercentageToActivateService on the serviceHostingEnvironment config element.]

System.ServiceModel.Activation.ServiceMemoryGates.Check(Int32 minFreeMemoryPercentage, Boolean throwOnLowMemory, UInt64& availableMemoryBytes) +121924

System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.CheckMemoryCloseIdleServices(EventTraceActivity eventTraceActivity) +86

System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.EnsureServiceAvailable(String normalizedVirtualPath, EventTraceActivity eventTraceActivity) +883

[ServiceActivationException: The service '/SecurityTokenServiceApplication/securitytoken.svc' cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation. The exception message is: Memory gates checking failed because the free memory (914993152 bytes) is less than 5% of total memory. As a result, the service will not be available for incoming requests. To resolve this, either reduce the load on the machine or adjust the value of minFreeMemoryPercentageToActivateService on the serviceHostingEnvironment config element..]

System.Runtime.AsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +650220

System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +210733

System.Web.AsyncEventExecutionStep.OnAsyncEventCompletion(IAsyncResult ar) +166

Looked in to the ULS Logs and we see the below error

[Date and Time] w3wp.exe (0x072C) 0x0ECC SharePoint Foundation General 8nca Medium Application error when access /_layouts/15/settings.aspx, Error=The requested service, 'http://localhost:32843/SecurityTokenServiceApplication/securitytoken.svc' could not be activated. See the server's diagnostic trace logs for more information. Server stack trace: at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelUtilities.ValidateRequestReplyResponse(HttpWebRequest request, HttpWebResponse response, HttpChannelFactory`1 factory, WebException responseException, ChannelBinding channelBinding) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory`1.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelRequest.WaitForReply(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestChannel.Request(Message message, TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message) Exception rethrown at [0]: at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type) at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.WSTrust.IWSTrustContract.Issue(Message message) at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.WSTrust.WSTrustChannel.Issue(RequestSecurityToken rst, RequestSecurityTokenResponse& rstr) at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.WSTrust.WSTrustChannel.Issue(RequestSecurityToken rst) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurityContext.SecurityTokenForContext(Uri context, Boolean bearerToken, SecurityToken onBehalfOf, SecurityToken actAs, SecurityToken delegateTo, SPRequestSecurityTokenProperties properties) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurityContext.SecurityTokenForLegacyLoginContext(Uri context) at Microsoft.SharePoint.IdentityModel.SPWindowsClaimsAuthenticationHttpModule.PerformClaimsAuthenticationForUser(HttpContext context, SPFederationAuthenticationModule fam, SessionAuthenticationModule sam, WindowsIdentity windowsIdentity, SessionSecurityToken sessionSecurityToken, Boolean writeCookie) at Microsoft.SharePoint.IdentityModel.SPWindowsClaimsAuthenticationHttpModule.AuthenticateRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) 8ecdfd9b-9a3f-3054-c5fd-1d27ddcf178d

Cause

High Memory utilization preventing the Security Token service to be activated because SharePoint server was assigned Dynamic Memory instead of Static which is not supported (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2764086/en-us)

Resolution

• Turn off the SharePoint VM
• Change the type of memory assigned from Dynamic to Static
• Boot the machine and we should be able to browse to sites and securitytoken.svc without any errors.