System Enable or Disable Compact OS in Windows 10 and Windows 11


Compact_OS_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Compact OS in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 have tools and features that help you save disk space and optimize your image.

Compact OS compresses all operating system binaries and sets the system state to Compact, which remains unless administrator changes it.

When running CompactOS, Windows update can replace or remove individual files as needed to help maintain the drive footprint size over time.


You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable Compact OS.



Contents





Option One

See if Compact OS is Currently Enabled or Disabled


1 Open Windows Terminal. and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the compact /compactos:query command into Windows Terminal (Admin), and press Enter. (see screenshots below)

3 Look to see if the system is in the Compact state or not.

4 You can now close Windows Terminal (Admin) if you like.

CompactOS-query-1.png


CompactOS-query-2.png


CompactOS-query-3.png





Option Two

Enable Compact OS


1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin). and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the compact /compactos:always command into Windows Terminal (Admin), and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

3 When finished, you can close Windows Terminal (Admin) if you like.

It can take a while to finish compressing.


compactos_always.png





Option Three

Disable Compact OS


1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin). and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the compact /compactos:never command into Windows Terminal (Admin), and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

3 When finished, you can close Windows Terminal (Admin) if you like.

It can take a while to finish uncompressing.


compactos_never.png



That's it,
Shawn Brink


Related Tutorials

 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
So it compress only Windows Core files, while the rest remains untouched. So for common user gain is overal 20% or so?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 21H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    AMD
    CPU
    Ryzen 5
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce
    Monitor(s) Displays
    DELL
    Keyboard
    MS
Rahulji said:
So it compress only Windows Core files, while the rest remains untouched. So for common user gain is overal 20% or so?
Click to expand...

Hello, :)

Correct. It can be around that much. This is mostly designed to help those with low drive space. For example with tablets.

1640446764325.png


The table below shows the additional space saved by using compact OS, Single instancing, and reducing or turning Off Hiberfile on 2GB (x86 processor architecture) and 4GB (x64 processor architecture), on Windows 10, version 1607:

SIZE COMPARISONS

ImageWindows 10 Home x86, 2GB memoryWindows 10 Home x64, 4GB Memory
Base Footprint11.68GB15.06GB
Compact OS, with no single instancing8.85GB (>2.75GB savings)11.3GB (>3.7GB)
Compact OS, single instanced7.66GB (>4GB)10.09GB (>4.75GB)
Hiberfile off, no compact OS10.87GB (>825MB)13.48GB (>1.5GB)
Hiberfile reduced, no compact OS11.27GB (>400MB)14.15GB (>930MB)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC
    CPU
    Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) 3.42 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15" HDR
    Screen Resolution
    2496 x 1664
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD
    Internet Speed
    Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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