Win 11 ReFS Compact vmdk
Win 11 ReFS Compact vmdk
Hello guys !! I have a little problem but i'm not sure if there is a solution. If anyone knows to help me.
I managed to install win 11 (build 25300) on ReFS partition on vmware (win 11 host) just out of curiosity, but the compact disk (vmdk) in vm settings doesn't seems to work. It works fine on another win 11 vm (build 25396, i think) but not on this one. I suspect it doesn't work cause of the ReFS partition, but i don't know why. Maybe cause the ReFS doesn't support compression, or it's something else ?
Is there something else i can do to fix it ??
I'm analyzing the information from two perspectives.
The guest operating system was set up on a virtual disk with ReFS formatting.
This approach should not be used for this task; it isn't intended as a system partition file system.
The guest OS was installed via an NTFS-formatted virtual disk, though the actual virtual disk image resides on a ReFS-formatted drive.
Recent updates in an Insider Preview of Windows Server 22H2 included file compression options.
Hello !! Thank you for your response!
I'm the first one to try this. I set up Windows 11 on a ReFS vdmk, and the host OS is still using an NTFS disk.
I experimented with Ubuntu using Ext4 and Btrfs, but the "compact disk" didn't function properly or at all (7.8GB before, 7.7GB after). Does it really only work with Windows NTFS?
I'm looking for a workaround since I don't want to pre-allocate the size of vdmk.
I don't understand how VMWare functions, but using VirtualBox, if you wish to shrink a virtual disk image, you initially need to access the guest OS and execute a command that clears the virtual disk's unused space. From this article
Then you execute the compacting command. This might be all you need.
As discussed in the forum post, however, sdelete functions on ReFS. Additionally, compacting doesn't actually reduce the disk image size; it only reduces it by zeroing out certain parts. If the guest OS indicates it's using roughly the same space as the disk image, then the compacting process reaches its maximum efficiency.
I'm not sure which method uses vmware for disk compression, but the second approach you mentioned seems more reasonable. The guest OS is 20gb (as shown in "properties" on the c drive), and the virtual disk is 29gb, but compression isn't working. I should probably try installing win11 on the ReFS partition again, hoping for native support without needing special workarounds.