1. In the guest operating system, prepare the virtual hard disk for compacting.
   
2. Open the Administration Website.
   
3. Turn off the virtual machine to which the dynamically expanding virtual hard disk is attached.
   
4. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Disks, click Inspect.
   
5. Do one of the following, and then click Inspect:
   
   • In Known virtual hard disks, select the virtual hard disk to compact.
     
   • In Fully qualified path to file, type the fully qualified path to the virtual hard disk file to compact.
     
6. Under Actions, click Compact virtual hard disk.
   
7. Click Compact.
   

Caution
Compacting a virtual hard disk can use a large percentage of processor resources. We recommend that you do not perform this operation on a production computer.

Note

To perform this procedure, you must have the appropriate permissions. If you do not have the appropriate permissions, you will either receive an error message or you will not be able to view certain menu items and options described in this procedure. To change your permissions, contact your Virtual Server administrator. For more information, see Securing Virtual Server. You can compact a virtual hard disk only when it is not in use. For more information about compacting a virtual hard disk, see "Compacting dynamically expanding virtual hard disks" in Related Topics. For instructions on opening the Administration Website, see "Open the Administration Website" in Related Topics. Dynamically expanding virtual hard disks are the only type of virtual hard disk you can compact.

Concepts