Activating Compact OS in Windows

Activating Compact OS in Windows

Compact OS is a feature in Windows that allows you to compress the operating system files to free up disk space. This feature can be particularly useful for devices with limited storage space, such as tablets or laptops.

To activate the Compact OS feature in Windows, follow these steps:

1. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator. To do this, right-click on the Start button and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu.

2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter:
compact.exe /compactos:always

3. Wait for the process to complete. This may take some time, as the operating system files are being compressed.

4. Once the process is finished, you can check the amount of disk space saved by the Compact OS feature. To do this, type the following command in the Command Prompt window and press Enter:
compact.exe /compactos:query

This will display the amount of disk space saved by the Compact OS feature.

It’s important to note that activating the Compact OS feature may impact the performance of your device, as the compressed files will need to be decompressed when accessed. However, for devices with limited storage space, the trade-off in performance may be worth the additional disk space gained.

In addition to using the Command Prompt, you can also activate the Compact OS feature using the Disk Cleanup tool. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Disk Cleanup tool by searching for “Disk Cleanup” in the Windows search bar and selecting the app from the search results.

2. In the Disk Cleanup window, click on the “Clean up system files” button.

3. In the “Files to delete” list, check the box next to “Previous Windows installation(s)” and any other items you want to delete.

4. Click on the “OK” button to start the cleanup process. This may also take some time, as the operating system files are being compressed.

After completing these steps, you should have successfully activated the Compact OS feature in Windows and freed up additional disk space on your device. Keep in mind that while this feature can be helpful for devices with limited storage space, it may impact performance and should be used with caution.