If you’re like me, I’m sure you have more than one virtual machine setup and running Windows (in my case, 4 VM’s running Windows Server 2008 R2 – on a laptop [yes an older laptop]). As you already know, Windows Server 2008, besides being AWESOME, is also DISK HOG. Sure, you could install only the Core, but that’s no fun!

One solution to reduce the amount of disk space is the use the Windows drive compression for large files and directories. Of course this takes a small performance hit (in my case, about 10% probably, but it’s for development anyhow) – (read the Microsoft best practices for compression), but you’ll be able to regain space, and better utilize your VM’s!

I compressed some major folders, and was able to regain a few gigs!