Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsTo enable Compact OS on an installed Windows 11 system, open Command Prompt or Windows Terminal as an administrator and run Compact.exe /CompactOS:always. Windows compresses operating-system files so they take up less storage; the space recovered varies by system, and the change can be reversed.
What Compact OS does—and what it does not do
Compact OS stores Windows operating-system files in compressed form and runs Windows from those files. It is intended to reduce the space used by the OS, not to clean downloads, photos, installed applications, or other personal data. Microsoft does not specify a universal amount of space every Windows 11 system will recover. To measure your own result, compare available drive space before and after the operation.
For a broader view of what may be using storage, Microsoft’s Compact OS, single-instancing, and image optimization guidance also identifies language resources, optional features, applications, and user data as storage considerations.
Enable Compact OS on an installed Windows 11 system
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Open Start, search for Command Prompt or Windows Terminal, then select Run as administrator. Approve the User Account Control prompt if it appears.
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Enter this command and press Enter:
Compact.exe /CompactOS:always -
Allow the operation to finish. Windows may take time to process the system files; it is not necessarily immediate.
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To check the Compact OS state, run:
Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query
Microsoft documents always as compressing operating-system binaries and setting the system to Compact state. See its Using Compact OS to optimize storage footprint guidance and the compact command reference.
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Undo Compact OS
To restore uncompressed operating-system binaries, run an elevated Command Prompt or Windows Terminal and enter:
Compact.exe /CompactOS:never
Check the resulting state with Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query. Microsoft documents these commands for managing Compact OS at runtime in its Compact OS, single-instancing, and image optimization guidance.
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What to expect from the space and performance trade-offs
Compact OS reduces the storage occupied by Windows files, but the amount reclaimed depends on the installed system and its existing state. Microsoft’s guidance does not promise a fixed number of gigabytes for Windows 11 users. If the drive remains short on space, inspect which categories—such as applications or user data—are consuming it; Compact OS does not directly remove those items.
Compressed files require additional CPU work to decompress, while fewer bytes need to be read from storage. The balance depends on the processor and storage device, so Compact OS is not guaranteed to make every PC faster or slower. Microsoft’s comments about limited performance downside on relatively new devices, particularly those with solid-state storage, are specifically in its Windows IoT Enterprise guidance and should not be treated as a tested guarantee for every consumer Windows 11 PC.
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Compact OS during Windows setup or on an offline installation
Compact OS is also a deployment option. Windows Setup decides by default whether to use it automatically, and its /CompactOS option specifies whether setup installs compressed or uncompressed system files. See Microsoft’s Windows Setup Command-Line Options.
For an offline Windows installation, query its state by supplying the path to that installation’s Windows directory. For example:
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Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query /WinDir:E:Windows
Replace E:Windows with the actual Windows directory for the offline installation. Microsoft documents this form in its Compact OS, single-instancing, and image optimization guidance.
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