Compacting a virtual hard disk can reclaim unused space in the virtual disk. Modern disks and operating systems are much more efficient at managing disk space than in the recent past. Therefore, do not expect the compacting procedure to return large amounts of disk space to the host drive. In this article, I will be showing you how to Compact Virtual Hard Disks on VMware. Please see How to disable unused Cisco Access Ports, How to disable automatic Offloading of Apps on iPhones, and how to Initialize and format a virtual disk: How to add and remove a new virtual disk from a VM on VMware Workstation.

Modern disks and operating systems are more efficient at managing disk space than in was the recent past. Therefore, do not expect the compacting procedure to return large amounts of disk space to the host drive. Please see how to create and add a new virtual disk to a VM on VMware Workstation_oldPost, and how to Uninstall Apps automatically: How to automatically Offload Unused Apps on iPhone.

The Prerequisites to Comparting Virtual Disk

Kindly note the following prerequistes. You cannot compact a virtual hard disk if disk space is preallocated or if the virtual hard disk is mapped or mounted. Also, if the virtual hard disk is an independent disk, it has to be in persistent mode. See how to extend a VM Hard Disk on VMware Workstation.

Reclaim vHD on VMware Workstation

To reclaim or compact a virtual hard disk for a selected virtual machine. Please select the VM, and click on Settings. In the Virtual Machine Settings, under the Hardware. Click on the Hard Disk tab.

Next, select the Hard Disk, and select Compact from the Utilities menu on the right hand side of the window.

As you can see, the Virtual disk is being compacted. After a while, you will get a prompt that the virtual disk has been successful compacted.

I hope you found this blog post helpful on how to Compact Virtual Hard Disks on VMware. Please let me know in the comment section if you have any questions.