Size of VMWare virtual machine

[hoyaspook]

I created a virtual machine for Windows XP Home Edition with a disk drive size of 8GB. I have a MacBook Air, so disk drive space is a bit... precious.

When I click "get info" on the virtual machine file, the file size is only 2.07 GBs. Will the virtual machine only increase in size as I install programs in the virtualized Windows XP environment, up to 8GB, or does Fusion automatically reserve 8GBs of hard disk space, regardless of how much space is actually used by the virtual machine?

I guess my question is whether I can reclaim hard drive space by reducing the size reserved for the virtual machine.

Thanks!

 

[tyr2]

It depends if you selected 'Allocate all disk space now' in the 'Advanced disk options' when you created the VM. By default it's turned off which means that space is allocated as it is used, upto the size you originally specified. Deleting files in the VM does not reclaim the space (iirc).

Your VM will continue to grow to the 8GB you originally allocated as you add more stuff to the VM.