How Can Windows 10 Function With As Little As 32 Gb Of Disk Space

All operating systems require a certain amount of disk space in order to run and function properly, so how are ‘economy model’ laptops able to properly function with the small drives that are built into them? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a curious reader’s question.

Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.

The Question

SuperUser reader AngryHacker wants to know how Windows 10 can function with as little as 32 GB of disk space:

How can Windows 10 function with as little as 32 GB of disk space?

The Answer

SuperUser contributor magicandre1981 has the answer for us:

Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.

Compact OS installs the operating system files as compressed files. Compact OS is supported on both UEFI-based and BIOS-based devices. Unlike WIMBoot (because the files are no longer combined into a single WIM file), Windows update can replace or remove individual files as needed to help maintain the drive footprint size over time.

This can be done automatically by Windows 10 setup or by manually applying an image:

DISM. EXE /Apply-Image /ImageFile:INSTALL. WIM /Index:1 /ApplyDir:C:\ /Compact:ON

Or in a running Windows 10 system via this command:

COMPACT. EXE /CompactOS:always