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I am running sdelete in a Windows 10 x64 virtual machine (VirtualBox). I want to remove empty space so I can compact the virtual disk.

I open an admin command prompt in the VM, change directory to the sdelete folder, and run

sdelete64.exe -z c:

Or

sdelete64.exe c: -z

I get the error message in the title. It pops up in a blue box. Then cmd says "Access is denied"

Alternatively, is there another way to write zeroes to free space, besides with sdelete? I read that ccleaner can do it, but the latest version removed the option to wipe only the free space, because there were complaints that it wiped too much.

enter image description here

shmu
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  • Please provide a screenshot. Are you sure the VM has a 64-bit operating system? – Daniel B Apr 07 '21 at 10:13
  • See the screenshot I added, it shows the issue and also the bitness of the system. – shmu Apr 07 '21 at 13:27
  • Why not just use the normal [`sdelete.exe`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sdelete)? _(There's likely a benefit to the 64bit version in certain scenarios, but what those might be I've never come across)_ – JW0914 Apr 07 '21 at 13:47
  • I get the same error with the normal sdelete.exe – shmu Apr 07 '21 at 17:17
  • What’s the file size of `sdelete64.exe`? – Daniel B Apr 08 '21 at 18:15
  • Aha. 0 bytes. I wonder how that happened. I ran sdelete successfully less than 24 hours before my unsuccessful try. – shmu Apr 09 '21 at 03:45

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