Compact a virtual hard disk

You can compact a virtual hard disk in order to reclaim unused space. If a disk has empty space, this process reduces the amount of space the virtual hard disk occupies on the host system drive.

Prerequisites

  • the virtual disk should not be mapped or mounted.
  • disk space must not be preallocated for the virtual hard disk.
  • if the virtual hard disk is an independent disk, it has to be in persistent mode.

Here is how you can compact a virtual hard disk:

1. Power off the virtual machine.

2. Select the virtual machine from the library and go to Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings:

vm settings existing disk

3. On the Hardware tab, select the virtual hard disk to compact and click Compact:

compact virtual disk

4. When the process completes, click OK:

compact virtual disk finished

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