# Shave ~3GB From Windows OS Drive
Author: i12bretro
Keywords: Microsoft,Windows,Compress,Storage,Operating System,Trick,Space,Disk,Save,I12betro,Compact,Free Up Storage Space,Free Up Disk Space,Windows 11,Windows 10,Reduce Windows Disk Usage,System Maintenance,System Administrator,Shrink Windows Installation,Hard Disk,Hard Drive,IT Toolbox,Disk Space,Disk Cleanup,How To,Tutorial,i12bretro

This is a great trick to save a few gigabytes of space on the OS, especially if you have a smaller mSata SSD for the boot drive.

1. Right click the Start button > Command Prompt (Admin)
2. Run the following command to compress OS files
   Compact.exe /CompactOS:always
3. The command takes about 10 minutes to complete depending on your hard drive and will free about 3 GB of space

## Reverting the Compression

If for some reason you want to undo this change you can use the steps below to decompress the OS files

1. Right click the Start button > Command Prompt (Admin)
2. Run the following command to compress OS files
   Compact.exe /CompactOS:never