Virtual Machine optimizers

I have read a discussion about musthave Windows software. User esabine addend a link to Scott Hanselman's tools list. One of the tools Scott was writing about was an optimizer tool for VM’s. - Invirtus VM Optimizer for 70 USD. However, Invirtus is not in the market anymore, and was acquired by Quest and Vizioncore. The prices went up 4 times (to about 300 USD).

Does anyone knows good VM optimizer tool, that will work with VMWare Workstation?

smok1

Posted 2009-08-21T09:53:55.317

Reputation: 479

1+1 for good question. Invirtus VM Optimizer was great for optimizing VM footprint - it would do many things that out-of-the-box tools didn't do, like nuke all the Windows help files (who needs those in a barebones VM?) Since I haven't been able to use it in forever, I'm forgetting some of the other nice features that it used to have. :( – Yoopergeek – 2009-08-21T16:05:35.527

Answers

VMware does have built in tools for shrinking Virtual Disks.

And you can also use the VMware Virtual Disk Manager to do this.

Dave Webb

Posted 2009-08-21T09:53:55.317

Reputation: 10 126

A lot of supposed optimizers just make it easier to remove unnecessary software/services from Windows--items that can be removed manually (for free) by the user.

I agree with Dave Webb's suggestion for using VMWare's built-in tools. In addition, I keep a bare-bones image (whether it's XP, Vista, or Windows 7) with as much of the bloat uninstalled/disabled. I'll use the bare-bones image as a base for subsequent clones.

The biggest optimization IMHO is ensuring that your VM isn't fragmented.

C-Pound Guru

Posted 2009-08-21T09:53:55.317

Reputation: 1 488

I do not grok the last part. Why would that matter enough to worry for the guest. (I understand why you do not want the vmdk on the host to be fragmented). – Hennes – 2016-07-06T12:24:25.653