Enabling Data Deduplication in my Windows 8.1

Recently my storage usage space in my drive is getting more and more and I’ve got to find a way to reduce it.  I read a few blogs and found a solution which is the dedup (I know that I have duplicate files in my drive but need sometime to housekeep )

This method is not officially supported by Microsoft however found a way to save my disk space.

This method requires the CAB files from the Windows Server 2012 R2.  Either you can get those files from a Windows Server 2012 R2 or you can download the files from my OneDrive here.

The files are as follow :

• Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab
• Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab
• Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab
• Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab
• Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab
• Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab

I downloaded the files to a folder as below :

Then in the command prompt I execute the following command (I executed in the particular folder where the files reside) :

dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab  /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab  /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab

It looks something like below  :

Next I enable the Dedup Feature by executing the following command prompt:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Dedup-Core /all

It looks something like below :

Verify your add/remove features in your Windows (launch the Programs and Features)

Next is launch the PowerShell (elevated mode)

Example below is I’m targeting on my D Drive (only change the one in yellow colour in the command for your target drive)

Enable-DedupVolume -Volume D: Set-DedupVolume -Volume D: -OptimizeInUseFiles

It looks like :

To force the Dedup to start immediately, simply run the following command in Powershell

Start-DedupJob -Volume D: -Type Optimization

After waiting for a while, to monitor execute the command in powershell :

Get-DedupVolume -Volume D: | fl

It will display as below :

Special credit to Wei King and also Mailspintoys for their sharing.

Thank you

keywords : deduplicate, dedup, windows 8.1 dedup, reduce storage space, reduce disk space