Comments on: Steps to Compact an XP Virtual Hard Disk http://blog.montopolis.com/2007/07/16/steps-to-compact-a-xp-virtual-hard-disk/ Building better businesses... with Technology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:46:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Travis Swientek http://blog.montopolis.com/2007/07/16/steps-to-compact-a-xp-virtual-hard-disk/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Travis Swientek Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:29:33 +0000 http://blog.montopolis.com/?p=39#comment-5 Hmm.. It sounds like you've got "stuff" installed on the XP installation. In order to get my VHD below 1GB, I performed a fresh install of XP and installed only the bare minimum, Windows Updated only "Critical" updates. Go to the Add/Remove programs,directly after installing XP, and remove all unnecessary programs. Then flop over to the Add/Remove Windows Components and remove everything that you probably wont use in the XP environment. In our case we dont need calculator, games, MSN explorer etc. So I removed all these items. Also, don't forget to turn off System Restore!! You don't need this feature and it consumes large amounts of space! I believe I have the boot time defrag option in XP enabled, I cant verify that right now.. I'll get back to you on that... Thats about all I can think of.. just make sure you're using a fresh install of XP... I see you said "pretty basic" installation. Remember if you install ANY programs, it's going to consume space. My example is referring to a very slim XP with nothing on it! :) Hmm.. It sounds like you’ve got “stuff” installed on the XP installation. In order to get my VHD below 1GB, I performed a fresh install of XP and installed only the bare minimum, Windows Updated only “Critical” updates.

Go to the Add/Remove programs,directly after installing XP, and remove all unnecessary programs. Then flop over to the Add/Remove Windows Components and remove everything that you probably wont use in the XP environment. In our case we dont need calculator, games, MSN explorer etc. So I removed all these items.

Also, don’t forget to turn off System Restore!! You don’t need this feature and it consumes large amounts of space!

I believe I have the boot time defrag option in XP enabled, I cant verify that right now.. I’ll get back to you on that…

Thats about all I can think of.. just make sure you’re using a fresh install of XP… I see you said “pretty basic” installation. Remember if you install ANY programs, it’s going to consume space. My example is referring to a very slim XP with nothing on it! :)

]]> By: ryanrands http://blog.montopolis.com/2007/07/16/steps-to-compact-a-xp-virtual-hard-disk/comment-page-1/#comment-4 ryanrands Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:47:02 +0000 http://blog.montopolis.com/?p=39#comment-4 These are great instructions. The first time I tried this with Flexomizer Defrag, I got a pretty basic installation down from 3.5 GB to 2.7 GB, which is decent. However, following you spirit of getting it below 1 GB, I tried to run the defrag several times and ended up with a VHD of 3.7 GB! Larger than I started! Are you using the boot time defrag? What else are you removing to reduce the size of the image? Thanks for the help! These are great instructions. The first time I tried this with Flexomizer Defrag, I got a pretty basic installation down from 3.5 GB to 2.7 GB, which is decent. However, following you spirit of getting it below 1 GB, I tried to run the defrag several times and ended up with a VHD of 3.7 GB! Larger than I started!

Are you using the boot time defrag? What else are you removing to reduce the size of the image?

Thanks for the help!

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