Windows 10: Compact a Hyper-V VHD

I have Hyper-V VM with the Windows 10 Pro Technical Preview Build 9926 as the guest, and Windows 8.1 Pro as the host OS. I've been running it for 3 months now, with at least 2 build updates. But I can't compact the VHD. The used drive space on the VM guest is 16.8 GB, while the size of the .vhdx is 24.8 GB. That is 8 GB space that could be removed.

I've tried doing the compact within Hyper-V Manager. But I can't get the .vhdx file to shrink any more. I don't want to defrag the virtual drive from the guest OS because my host OS is running from a solid state drive.

So how do I recover those 8 GB on my host machine?

:)

 

Hyper-V Virtual Machine not recognised

Ok that's why you can't add it... Virtual Machines are stored in a .vhd or .vhdx file. The xml file is used for the VMs but you also have to have a valid vhd

https://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-vs-relatio...

Are you trying to import one you used previously or just trying to create a new VM?

 

Hyper-V VHD issue (RAID 0 setup)

Hello all,

I just tried using Hyper-V after upgrading my desktop hardware to a setup with 2 drives (identical drives) in a RAID0 setup.

Before the upgrade (and reïnstallation of Windows 10) i was able to create as many VM's with VHD as i want, however sinds the upgrade of my hardware this is no longer possible.

When i now try to create a new VM in Hyper-V Manager in the final step i get an error saying that the storage location on my Virtual Harddrive is not supporting sharing of Virtual Harddrives.

Does this mean that Hyper-V see's a RAID0 setup as a VHD and therefor is not capable of connecting VHD's to my VM's? Saying Hyper-V is not capable of working with RAID0 ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

Kind Regards,

Bart

 

You will probably have to defrag it. One defrag isn't going to kill your SSD.

 

Hi there

You could do it "The brute force way"

1) From the VM run an image backup (Acronis etc). Backup to an external HDD.
2) delete the original Vhd files
3) Re-create a NEW VM but don't install the OS. Define disk size to what you want now.
4) Recover the old image via Acronis - your VM should be able to boot from an ISO initially so no probs running a recovery. Use Macrium or similar if you don't have Acronis.

Cheers
jimbo