Ntfs File System: Access Denied: File Is In Use Compressing Windows\

Hi! I tried compressing parts of a Win7Pro/64 laptop's hard drive and am getting the error message mentioned in the subject. I was told compressing the Windows folder is a bad idea but believe compressing certain subfolders such as Fonts\ is okay. I also want to compress other folders such as Program Files but am getting the same error. Is there a way around this?

 

I know your attempt may be noble, but are fraught with danger in compression f parts of "Windows" operating system. There are parts of Windows that may not be able to "process" compressed files, as they are not normally compressed. Trying to "compress" the "Program Files" is probably an especially hazardous attempt, as those files are never thought to be "compressed" in the first place. I would look at "compressing" any or all OTHER parts of the hard drive, and not (as suggested above) trying to compress anything within the operating system itself. Good luck either way, but I doubt others have tried to do what you have attempted. (Microsoft seems to be on top of that, and makes what you request/require impossible.)

 

Well...most of the information that is compressible is either already compressed or small enough to not benefit much from compression. I was asking about Windows folders such as the Fonts folder, as I think they aren't used during startup and, as such, should be compressible. It's okay, because right now, the hard drive is a little more han 3/4 full, and the system has a 256GB flash drive to act as a simulated second hard drive. Thank you.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the primary (c:???) drive on the laptop? Is it a mechanical HD, SSD, or other? And (more importantly,) What is it's capacity? 3/4 doesn't mean a lot if it's a 1 GB drive vs a 1 TB drive; but 3/4 seems like a LOT of things that may not be needed on your primary "boot" drive.

 

An HD and, IIRC, something like 76GB. I have a lot of things I can move off the drive, like some emulators, wallpapers and icons. The problem is that I have a lot of shortcuts to the emulators and references to the icons in several places and need to update the references. After that, I can move them.