Ensure your XML configuration includes on the storage drive block. Inside Windows 11, run the "Optimize Drives" utility to reclaim unused space, shrinking the physical footprint of the QCOW2 file on your host SSD.
What are you using? (Proxmox, virt-manager, pure QEMU CLI?) windows 11 taoqcow2 better download
The term "Taoqcow2" refers to a specific build of Windows 11 that is popular among users who want to download and try out the operating system. This build is not officially recognized by Microsoft, but it has gained a reputation among users for being a stable and feature-rich version of the OS. Ensure your XML configuration includes on the storage
For a "better download" experience:
After the installation is complete and you have shut down the VM from inside Windows, "sparsify" the file to remove empty space and make it smaller for distribution. (Proxmox, virt-manager, pure QEMU CLI
virt-install --name win11 --ram 8192 --vcpus 4 --disk path=win11.qcow2,format=qcow2 --cdrom /path/to/Win11_23H2_English.iso --cdrom /path/to/virtio-win-0.1.240.iso --os-variant win11 --graphics spice
Microsoft does not provide official Windows 11 downloads in the QCOW2 format. To get a high-quality and secure version, the best method is to create the file yourself from an official ISO. Recommended Way to Get a Windows 11 QCOW2