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To enable Compact OS on an installed Windows 11 system, open an elevated Command Prompt or Windows Terminal and run Compact.exe /CompactOS:always. Compact OS compresses Windows operating-system files; it does not clean personal files or installed apps, and Microsoft does not promise a fixed amount of space recovered.
What Compact OS changes
Compact OS stores Windows operating-system files in compressed form and runs Windows from those files. This can reduce the space used by the operating system, but it is not a general cleanup tool: downloads, photos, other personal files, and installed applications are not its target.
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Microsoft’s guidance does not give a universal disk-space figure for Windows 11. The result depends on the installed system and its existing state. To assess the change on your PC, note the drive’s available space before enabling Compact OS and compare it afterward.
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Enable Compact OS in Windows 11
- Open Start, search for Command Prompt or Windows Terminal, then choose Run as administrator. Approve the User Account Control prompt if it appears.
- Check the current setting by entering
Compact.exe /CompactOS:Queryand pressing Enter. Windows reports whether the system is in Compact state. - To enable compression, run
Compact.exe /CompactOS:always. Wait for the operation to finish; it may take time to process system files. - Run
Compact.exe /CompactOS:Queryagain to check the resulting state.
These runtime commands are documented in Microsoft’s Compact OS guidance and compact command reference.
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Understand the performance tradeoff
Compressed files take fewer bytes to read from storage, while the processor must do additional work to decompress them. Microsoft says the balance depends on the relative performance of the storage device and processor, so Compact OS is not guaranteed to make every Windows 11 PC faster or slower. Microsoft’s note that newer devices, particularly those with solid-state storage, should see little performance downside is specifically about Windows IoT Enterprise; it is not a tested guarantee for every consumer PC.
Turn Compact OS off
To restore uncompressed operating-system binaries, run an elevated Command Prompt or Windows Terminal and enter Compact.exe /CompactOS:never. Allow the command to complete, then use Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query if you want to verify the state. Microsoft documents these options in its Compact OS guidance and compact command reference.
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- Less chaos, more calm. The refreshed design of Windows 11 enables you to do what you want effortlessly.
- Biometric logins. Encrypted authentication. And, of course, advanced antivirus defenses. Everything you need, plus more, to protect you against the latest cyberthreats.
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Check an offline Windows installation
If you are managing a Windows installation that is not currently running, Microsoft documents querying its Compact OS state by specifying the Windows directory. For example, use Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query /WinDir:E:Windows and replace E:Windows with the actual directory containing that offline installation.
When Compact OS is not enough
Because Compact OS targets Windows operating-system files, it will not address storage taken up by personal data, applications, language resources, or optional features. Microsoft’s storage-footprint guidance covers those other categories. Check what is using the drive and choose a cleanup or removal method suited to that category rather than expecting OS compression to free all occupied space.
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Compact OS during Windows setup
Compact OS can also be chosen as part of Windows deployment. Windows Setup decides by default whether to use it automatically; the setup option /CompactOS specifies whether Setup installs compressed or uncompressed system files. This is distinct from enabling or disabling Compact OS on an already installed system with compact.exe. See Microsoft’s Windows Setup command-line options.
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