Why are there multiple Docker virtual disk .vhdx files on my system? Why does the .vhdx file size differ from what docker system df reports? And how do I reduce the size of the Docker .vhdx disk image?

[meyay (Metin Y.)]

@subhadipjana

what state it store on that .vhdx that it take too much space while my image size, voulume, and data doest not require too much storage !

I gave you the relevant path. Feel free to look at it It also stores state of the docker backend, not just the engine.

@subhadipjana

can you tell me some of those tools also can you tell me how I shrikn the vhdx files.

I used the forum search with “vhdx shrink”, one of the first findings points to this post of mine:

Docker Hard Disk Image File Being Too Large

As you already figured out, the behavior is caused by how WSL2 handles the vhdx file. It is a dynamic growing virtual hard disk file with max size of 256gb by default. In the pasts I did shrink vhdx files by following a solution like this: How to Shrink a WSL2 Virtual Disk – Stephen Rees-Carter It could be actually a usefully feature-request to have a button in Docker Desktop that shrinks the used vhdx file.