VMware Communities: Message List - vdiskmanager GUI

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:55:31 GMT

How much more free space do I need for the conversion

It depends on how much data has been written in the guest; it's potentially as much as 36 GB.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

clapperboy2010 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:14:34 GMT

I'd like to convert a clone from Pre-Allocated to Sparse, or re-size it to a smaller volume.

I'm running Fusion 1.1.3. When I ran Convert in the GUI, it stopped at 14%, since I did not have enough free space on the Mac hard drive. The clone is allocated at 36GB. I'd like it to be 26GB. I have 4.5GB free on the Mac. How much more free space do I need for the conversion or to decrease the size of the Pre-Allocated disk?

thanks,

Scott

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

tjarman — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:15:54 GMT

I had, but I reread it and went for it. I just kept reading "partition" and not enough reference to "virtual disks", so I just needed to know it was the right direction. I chose to use the EASEUS application as it required the least amount of steps. Once I freed up enough space, it worked like a charm. What would have been nice was some specifics on what was needed in the way of free space. It was quite a bit of trial and error. But I got the job done and I'm in business again on the Windows side of things. This was by far the simplest method I had read about.

Thank you!

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:54:48 GMT

Read the Document!

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

tjarman — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:49:22 GMT

My WinXP virtual machine is no longer in a partition. After importing in the original Boot Camp partition, I removed any traces of it so that I only have the VM. Will these instructions still work for me?

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:40:06 GMT

Have a look at: Resizing Virtual Disks With Step by Step Instructions

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

tjarman — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:48:56 GMT

Fusion 2.0.1
iMac Leopard 10.5.5
Guest OS is WinXP Home Edition

I have the newest version of Fusion and resizing the disk using the slider in the settings is not working. I have tried using the terminal and issuing the command to increase the virtual disk space. I have tried this nifty little gui interface. Nothing. It is not expanding.

I created my virtual machine by importing a Boot Camp partition. Because I really didn't want to be running a Windows machine on my iMac, I only gave the Windows partition the minimum amount of space of 5 GB. But now I have run out of room on the Windows VM.

I'm open to any suggestions on getting this to work.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

rome.jm — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:45:14 GMT

Hi Woody,

Thanks for the feedback. I did as you instructed & everything worked fine. Then I defragmented the VM disk from within XP Pro. I next defragged the VM disk from within vdiskmanager.

But, I still have the same original problem. Maybe you can help me. After taking a snapshot image I am presented with a dialog box that reads "Unable to cleanup deleted files: The specified Virtual Disk needs repair." Outside of reloading XP Pro into an new VM is there anything you can think of to remedy this malady?

Thanks, Jeff

Jeffrey M. Rome, mobile phone: 617-640-6500, computer fax: 206-338-6500, jm.rome@capital-access.net

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:44:52 GMT

rome.jm wrote: I have downloaded your vdiskmanager gui & am still confused how to launch it.

I checked the Package Content & discovered the vmdisk was nearly 30GB & my vmdisk parameters are set to 20GB.

Download the "vdiskmanager GUI 0.2007.06.18.zip" to you hard drive and unzip it. Ctrl-click an select either Archive Helper (Leopard) or BOMArchiveHelper (Tiger) and then double-click the "vdiskmanager GUI" icon in the "vdiskmanager GUI 0.2007.06.18" folder created by unzipping it.

BTW the files that comprise a Virtual Machine are in a folder (a.k.a a Bundle and or Package) and if you ctrl-click the icon representing the Virtual Machine and select Show Package Contents you will see the individual files that comprise it and the base virtual hard drive will not be any bigger then the size that was set when it was created and the reason the Package is bigger is because you have a Snapshot and also could have a .vmem file which will be the size of the amount of Memory allocated to the Virtual Machine as well as other files.

So it not unusual for a Virtual Machine's Package to be considerably bigger then the size that was designated for the virtual hard drive.

For a better understanding have a look at the Virtual Machine Files section in A Beginner's Guide to VMware Fusion and for an in depth understanding of this have a look at "Files That Make Up a Virtual Machine" in Workstation User's Manual. Note: Even though I'm pointing you to documentation for Workstation User's Manual much of the information such as this is applicable in Fusion.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

rome.jm — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:41:27 GMT

Eric,

I have downloaded your vdiskmanager gui & am still confused how to launch it. I have also downloaded the vmware converter but having problems there too. I am trying to solve a problem that arose after taking a snapshot in Fusion 1.1.3. The message that came up stated files could not be deleted & to repair the disk. The environment still works fine. I checked the Package Content & discovered the vmdisk was nearly 30GB & my vmdisk parameters are set to 20GB. So, I have been trying to increase the size of my vmdisk - but without success. Can you offer some help.

Thanks, Jeff

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:32:47 GMT

schnide wrote:Im not certain how to edit a post

While in a Browser, in the lower right corner of the post there should be an hyperlink.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

schnide — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:11:33 GMT

Im not certain how to edit a post so here is the followup I found in another thread. See the link below for the Windows part of the expansion process:

http://www.petri.co.il/extend-disk-partition-vista-windows-server-2008.htm

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

schnide — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:16:55 GMT

Related to disk resizing in 2.0b2, I see the hard disk settings for breaking in to 2gig pieces and the resize bar. What needs to be done to get windows to see the new size? I am running Vista Enterprise. Do I need to boot off the gparted-live-0.3.7-7.iso to run gparted to get windows to recognize the size? When you change the size and click save, nothing appears unlike when breaking in to 2 gig pieces a progress bar appears. I tried to run the hep in beta but nothing would come up. Are there docs somewhere that I missed related to this process in 2.0b2?

Thanks

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:14:33 GMT

Much of this functionality is now in the Settings pane for 2.0b2. I don't intend to do any further work on vdiskmanager GUI.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

blah deblah — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:47:53 GMT

Just to reply to the error (41) where the 'The file already exist' (two people in here had questions about, and one rudely asked for a private email response) - defrag the vmdk you're trying to resize and it might work. It did for me.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

mmcleggon — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:33:12 GMT

It did work. The virtual disk I was trying to expand apparently had problems, and when I rebooted into the Win2K3 Server image, it told me that I had to run chkdsk/f on the drive. I did that, reboot back into the utility and voila! It worked fine.

This utility has really helped save me time getting ready for a customer demo! VMWare should REALLY seriously consider including it in the next release of Fusion.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:49:58 GMT

It should work, there's nothing special about SCSI disks or the guest operating system.

The vdiskmanager GUI tool does seem to expand my existing vmdk, but when I reboot into the gparted-livecd app, it doesn't recognize the expanded disk size. Is there something I missed here?

Nope, it should work. Without knowing exactly what you're doing or seeing, I can't say

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

mmcleggon — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:09:57 GMT

This is a great utility, however it doesn't seem to work for SCSI disks. Also, all of the discussions here have been about this utility and WinXP/Vista virtual machines, but nothing about Windows 2003 Server virtual machines.

The vdiskmanager GUI tool does seem to expand my existing vmdk, but when I reboot into the gparted-livecd app, it doesn't recognize the expanded disk size. Is there something I missed here?

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

KBoger — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:20:12 GMT

I have installed your program and tried to run but got the following error message:
Using log file /var/folders/o8/o84bsxPXHmWoqJAbmrW1Yk+++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-Keith/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to expand the disk '/Users/Keith/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Vista.vmwarevm/Windows Vista.vmdk': The file already exists (41).

Did I do something wrong? Please advise. Thanks, KB

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Avrak — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:37:45 GMT

Hello etung I have tried the GUI to resize the hard disk from 10GB to 17GB, I have deleted the snapshot. When the GUI asked me to "choose", there seemed to be a lot to choose from....here they are:

Windows XP Professional-000001.vmdk

Windows XP Professional-IDE_0-0.vmdk

Windows XP Professional-SCSI_0-1.vmdk

Windows XP Professional.vmdk

I tried to expand the Windows XP Professional.vmdk file and got to 76% done before it failed, spouting and "inpu/output error (327689), I have also been unable to make a copy of the Windows VMware file...that fails as well. Any ideas???

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:25:19 GMT

rkuzel wrote: Thanks WoodZ for the pointer to Gparted, but this doesn't look like something I can run on a MAC OS? I'm running an XP guest from a MAC 10.4 OS with Fusion. I downloaded the 3.4-11 ISO file.

You attach the ISO to the Virtual Machine CD/DVD and boot it.

Have a look at: VMware Fusion menu bar > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Managing Virtual Machines > Configuring the CD/DVD Drive

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

rkuzel — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:37:03 GMT

Thanks WoodZ, everything worked perfectly! Also would like pass on a link I found that walks you through the entire process: http://onlytalkingsense.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/vmware-fusion-expanding-a-disk-2/

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

polarpop — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:21:02 GMT

those that are having issues, may want to look at this thread:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/140676

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

rkuzel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:45:33 GMT

Thanks WoodZ for the pointer to Gparted, but this doesn't look like something I can run on a MAC OS? I'm running an XP guest from a MAC 10.4 OS with Fusion. I downloaded the 3.4-11 ISO file.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

WoodyZ — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:24:56 GMT

rkuzel wrote: It worked great on expanding my virtual disk, but when I startup the Guest (WinXP Pro), it still shows only having 10GB (old max) and not the new max of 17GB? The VMware Fusion settings shows that the new max is 17GB.

vDiskManager GUI only expands the virtual disk not the partitions...

You can use GParted LiveCD http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ to nondestructively expand the OS Partition/Volume however I still would make a backup copy of the target Virtual Machine before performing this type of operation

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

rkuzel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:14:46 GMT

etung, Nice work on the vDiskManager GUI. It worked great on expanding my virtual disk, but when I startup the Guest (WinXP Pro), it still shows only having 10GB (old max) and not the new max of 17GB? The VMware Fusion settings shows that the new max is 17GB.

What did I miss?

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

mahenlux — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:06:23 GMT

Thank you. Lengthy process, but worked !
Your advice is much appreciated.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

WoodyZ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:40:45 GMT

mahenlux wrote: Successfully increased the HD max size from 20GB to 30GB. However, when running Windows XP professional defrag utility it shows C: drive capacity as 19.99GB. How do I make Windows recognise the additional capacity?

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

mahenlux — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:23:34 GMT

Thanks very much for this tool.

Successfully increased the HD max size from 20GB to 30GB. However, when running Windows XP professional defrag utility it shows C: drive capacity as 19.99GB.

How do I make Windows recognise the additional capacity?

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

sstein111 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:05:07 GMT

i tried this and got this error.

Using log file /var/folders/aj/ajx0xM6FEsC9ddVrTEc6q++++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-chip/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to expand the disk '/Applications/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm/Windows XP Professional.vmdk': The file already exists (41).

I have 20GB allocated and tried to expand to 40GB.

What do i do?

please email to chipstein@albany.twcbc.com

Thanks.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

John Christopher — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:52:28 GMT

Thanks. This worked. I was able to change the disk size but at the very end Vista starting hanging and not rebooting. I checked and double checked all the settings and decide to uinstall everything. Create a bootcamp partion and and then reinstall Fusion. I wish vmWare would integrate this into the software--seems like a critical function.

thanks for all your help--I sure appreciate it.

John

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

WoodyZ — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:47:58 GMT

John Christopher wrote:

Thanks.I tried to delete the tmp file you suggested. Even after following tips to have Finder show all files, the tmp file only shows up in vDiskmanager.

VMware Fusion menu bar > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Using the VMware Fusion Interface > Working with Virtual Machine Packages

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

John Christopher — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:25:56 GMT

Thanks.I tried to delete the tmp file you suggested. Even after following tips to have Finder show all files, the tmp file only shows up in vDiskmanager.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

WoodyZ — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:56:21 GMT

From the output of the ls command it looks like the target Virtual Machine is not closed and was suspended and not shutdown from within the OS.

The Virtual Machine needs to be properly shutdown from within the Guest OS and not suspended and the Virtual Machine window should be closed and although absolutely not necessary non-the-less the Fusion application should also be closed whenever your going to manipulate the files comprising a Virtual Machine. That said I would do the following in an attempt to accomplish what your doing.

I always, without fail, backup the Virtual Machine Bundle Package before I preform a operation that is going to modify the virtual disk in a case such as this as well as other processes I might invoke so if you didn't backup the Virtual Machine Bundle Package first then you may want to do that now just in case (and it may already be to late).

Next I'd close vdiskmanager GUI and then delete the "Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmdk.dfgshkgrw-tmp" file from the target Virtual Machine Bundle Package.

Then I would start the Virtual Machine and boot to the OSes Desktop and then using the controls from within the OS itself properly shutdown, not suspend, the OS and then close Fusion.

Now I would try to expand the virtual hard drive again.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

John Christopher — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:55:18 GMT

Thanks for helping WoodyZ

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

WoodyZ — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:46:21 GMT

Copy and Paste the following command line in a Terminal window (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) then press Enter.

ls -lt "/Users/JCC/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmwarevm" > ~/Desktop/dirlist.txt

The above command will create a file named dirlist.txt on your Desktop. Attach the dirlist.txt file to a reply post.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

John Christopher — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:03:18 GMT

Thanks! That got me started. However, when I was 20% into it vDiskmanager crashed.

When I tried to run it again this is the logged response

Using log file /var/folders/v3/v3KPrLbQFoCUJzAFLfjHZ++++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-JCC/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to expand the disk '/Users/JCC/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmwarevm/Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmdk': The file already exists (41).

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

WoodyZ — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:10:11 GMT

John Christopher wrote:
I'm having trouble resizing my virtual disk. I'm kind of new to all this so I apologize in advance for my ignorance.

The selected operation can only be executed on a disk with no snapshots.

If the Virtual Machine's Virtual Hard Drive has a Snapshot in place then you have to first use the VMware Fusion menu bar > Virtual Machine > Discard Snapshot command before trying to resize the Virtual Hard Drive.

NOTE: Do not use the Discard Snapshot command unless you fully understand that in doing so any an all changes that you've made since taking the Snapshot will be written into the original Virtual Hard Drive. If you do not want the changes that have been made then use the Revert to Snapshot command first and the the Discard Snapshot command.

NOTE: Using the Revert to Snapshot command DELETES any an all changes including Data that you may not have backed up off system since the Snapshot was take and if you're not backed up there is no easy way to recover once you've clicked the Revert to Snapshot command! You have been warned!

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

John Christopher — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:17:33 GMT

Dear ETung,

I'm having trouble resizing my virtual disk. I'm kind of new to all this so I apologize in advance for my ignorance.

I believe that my virtual disk is in my Documents folder (see attached file). There are two possible options when I go to this folder. The first log entry shows what happens when I try what looks like the main disk:

I'm trying to expand my Using log file /var/folders/v3/v3KPrLbQFoCUJzAFLfjHZ++++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-JCC/vdiskmanager.log
This disk is part of a snapshot chain in '/Users/JCC/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmwarevm/Windows Vista x64 Edition.vmx'.
The selected operation can only be executed on a disk with no snapshots.

Then I tried the disk that has the same name followed by five 0's and a 1 and got this message:

Using log file /var/folders/v3/v3KPrLbQFoCUJzAFLfjHZ++++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-JCC/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to get geometry: The called function cannot be performed on partial chains. Please open the parent virtual disk (5).

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:39:23 GMT

Ah, so it was 43 GB on-disk, not 43 GB max. Then what support suggested is indeed the necessary solution.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

blanger — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:23:52 GMT

That's what I thought too - but after I looked at the files in the VM directory (file list attached to my original post) - I found that there were only about 20 2GB files, and about 230 smaller files, each 320k in size. I'm not sure if the original Workstation that created this VM messed up as I didnt create it.

The second workaround given to me by Fusion support was to lift the maximum limit of files that can be open simultaneously.

To do that:

1) In the /etc hidden folder, create a text file called launchd.conf

2) In the file, put a line:
limit maxfiles 2048 4096
3) Reboot.

This worked for me.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:07:53 GMT

A 43GB VM should only have 22 chunks, so I don't think it's vmware-vdiskmanager that's using them all up - it could be some other process. You could try quitting other programs, or in the worst case, restart OS X.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

blanger — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:54:55 GMT

I have an existing VM that is about 43GB in size, and was saved with 2GB disk chunks.
When I brought this image onto my MAC and tried to open it with Fusion, I kept getting an error:
Jan 18 09:20:37.191: vmfusion| DISKLIB-LIB : Failed to open '/Users/artesia/Documents/Virtual Machines/SalesDemo with Media Portal 092607/Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk' with flags 0x17 (Reached the host's limit for open files).

I tried to consolidate the chunks into a single image, but also got an error from vdiskmanager:

Using log file /var/tmp//vmware-artesia/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to open the disk '/Users/artesia/Documents/Virtual Machines/SalesDemo with Media Portal 092607/Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk' : Reached the host's limit for open files (42).
Failed to open disk '/Users/artesia/Documents/Virtual Machines/SalesDemo with Media Portal 092607/Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk' : Reached the host's limit for open files (42).

How can I try to make this work?

thanks

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:51:04 GMT

If I run this "program" I understand I can make my virtual disk 50G (or whatever)

Right. Remember this program is the first of two steps, you'll also have to resize the partition as outlined in Pat's guide.

I run this in the host OS (mac)??

Yes.

Any prep for the guest os??

I doubt it will work if you have a snapshot (discard or revert as appropriate).

Should virtual machine (win xp) be suspended? Off completely?? Does it matter??

Off completely, and yes, it matters.

Any other info needed??

It's generally a bad idea to over-commit the host (e.g. if you have 10 GB free, don't make the new virtual disk size 100 GB) - even though you can do this with a sparse disk, you shouldn't. If you do, you will probably have problems later when you run out of space and can't shrink the disk (because shrinking requires free space).

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

Sandy Rosenberg — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:32:15 GMT

For the less than technical...

I need to expand my 20G virtual disk. Program is so good (Using Fusion 1.1) I added a bunch of windows games that now fill up 17G of the 20.

If I run this "program" I understand I can make my virtual disk 50G (or whatever)

So...

I run this in the host OS (mac)??

Any prep for the guest os??

Should virtual machine (win xp) be suspended? Off completely?? Does it matter??

Any other info needed??

Thanks.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

dcpc — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:35:09 GMT

Thanks a lot. Completed without problems. My only comment here is that the procedure, with links to all necessary software, should be displayed with much more prominence on the VMware site. This is not an uncommon problem and it should not be necessary to look into forum postings for the solution. That said, the guide by Pat Lee is excellent and easy to follow.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:24:37 GMT

I discarded the snapshot and expanded the disk from 7.9 GB to 17 GB without problems.
Disk Defragmenter shows that I have just 5 MB of free space and that capacity is 7.8 GB. Is there something extra that I should have done?

Expanding a disk is a two-step process. You've made the virtual disk bigger, but the partition is still the old size. You also need to resize the partition, which can be done a variety of ways. I'd suggest the second part of Pat Lee's guide: Resizing a Virtual Disk for Windows Guests with Step by Step Instructions

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

dcpc — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:18:17 GMT

Thank you. I discarded the snapshot and expanded the disk from 7.9 GB to 17 GB without problems. In settings, the new size is shown as 17 GB. I note that I now have 5 new 'vmdk' files within my 'VMWare Windows' folder. Trouble is when I run Windows it complains that my disk space is critically low. Disk Defragmenter shows that I have just 5 MB of free space and that capacity is 7.8 GB. Is there something extra that I should have done? I am still a bit puzzled here.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

modular747 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:57:04 GMT

Yes, as long as it was created as expandable and not fixed size to begin with.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

dcpc — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:09:10 GMT

Thanks. So, discarding the snapshot from within Fusion should allow me to expand the hard disk?

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

modular747 — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:30:33 GMT

You probably have an active snapshot of your VM. You can't expand a vhd if there's a snapshot - you have to revert to or discard it first.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

dcpc — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:22:56 GMT

Hi:

I am trying to expand my virtual hard disk using the GUI tool. I found vmdk files in this directory: /Users/david/Documents/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm/

There are five files of this type. Four have names such as 'VMWare Windows-000001-s001.vmdk' and one is named 'VMWare Windows-000001.vmdk'. If I choose the latter file, the result is as follows:

Using log file /var/tmp//vmware-david/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to get geometry: The called function cannot be performed on partial chains. Please open the parent virtual disk (5).

If I choose any of the first four, the result is as follows:

Using log file /var/tmp//vmware-david/vdiskmanager.log
The file '/Users/david/Documents/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm/VMWare Windows-000001-s002.vmdk' appears to be a sub-component of a virtual disk.
Did you mean '/Users/david/Documents/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm/VMWare Windows-000001.vmdk'?
Failed to open disk '/Users/david/Documents/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm/VMWare Windows-000001-s002.vmdk' : The file specified is not a virtual disk (16).

Could you please point me in the right direction here? How do I expand my disk? Thanks.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

modular747 — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:43:01 GMT

This snapshot system which creates an active non-configureable child virtual disc seems to have significant limitations. It's suitable only if the snapshot is created to temporarily test a new configuration and then be incorporated or deleted, discarding the child vd. It also seems to make it impractical to have multiple snapshots with a snapshot manager as in Parallels.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:54:45 GMT

I don't think you can do this; at least my 30-second experiment failed. I converted the child disk to preallocated, fixed the parentCID, and pointed the vmx at the new child disk. It failed to power on. I suspect that unlike a sparse disk, a preallocated disk doesn't have information about when to refer back to the parent disk, so you can't use it for a snapshot.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

modular747 — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:47:14 GMT

If a snapshot is taken when using a fixed size virtual disc, a new "expandable" disc is created which rapidly becomes highly fragmented on the OS X disc (>6000 fragments per iDefrag in my case). Is there a way to convert the secondary vd to a fixed size to avoid this fragmentation without deleting the snapshot?

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:18:18 GMT

i would like to know if this means i can add
a secondary virtual hard-drive to my VM?

You can, and you don't even need this tool to do it! Make sure the virtual machine is powered off, go under Settings for the virtual machine, and click the plus button in the lower left. Choose to add a new virtual hard drive, enter your settings, and done.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:16:41 GMT

The output file can't already exist; e.g. you can't expand in place.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

Phuongca — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:19:33 GMT

hello. this is fantastic tool.
however, i would like to know if this means i can add a secondary virtual hard-drive to my VM? it would be very useful/helpful if that's possible.

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

encoded_9 — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 13:04:04 GMT

Hello etung,

I just tried to expand my vmdisk of Windows2000 from 8GB to 15GB.
Then I couldn't do it and saw the following message,
------------------------------------------------------------------
Using log file /var/tmp//vmware-yoshi/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to expand the disk '/Users/yoshi/VirtualMachines/Windows2000.vmwarevm/Windows2000.vmdk': The file already exists (41).
------------------------------------------------------------------
What does it mean ? And how can I expand my vmdisk ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

itzac — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:34:32 GMT

You can create a second, smaller disk and copy the data to it. I've used the Ubuntu 7.04 Desktop live CD to do this. Just mount the iso and boot the VM. You can then use gparted to copy partitions over. Remember to mark the boot partition as active. Then remove both disks, and add the new disk as an existing VDisk to the first IDE or SCSI channel.

The other option is a little tougher, and really only suitable if you're shrinking the disk size by about 2GB. The disk needs to be of type 3 (preallocated 2GB files), and you're going to need to manually edit the vmdk file by hand. Finally, you're going to need to do a little math.

At this point you need to ask yourself if it's faster and more feasible to copy the data or allocate and zero all of the empty space in your existing virtual disk. I also don't guarantee that this will work perfectly. I haven't tested to make sure I can write all the way to the end of the virtual disk.

Let me know if you still want to try this method.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:29:16 GMT

i didn't bother to check the license or usage yet, i
believe it's great, but my understanding is this is a
community tool and not from VMWARE. is this correct?

Yes. This tool was written on my own time using only publicly-available information. VMware does not support this.

Eric, will you be willing to allow VMWARE take this
into fusion?

It'd be fine with me, but the program really doesn't do that much - it's mostly writing a GUI, which you can't exactly cut-and-paste into another program. It'd probably be cleaner/easier/faster for the developers to re-implement it.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

shshjun — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:12:55 GMT

Hopefully, this functionality will be incorporated
into the next release of fusion! Love the ability to
resize without needing to resort to the command line!

i didn't bother to check the license or usage yet, i believe it's great, but my understanding is this is a community tool and not from VMWARE. is this correct?

Eric, will you be willing to allow VMWARE take this into fusion?

thank again. i'd try it sometime later. --ss

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

RDPetruska — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:46:41 GMT

There is no built-in tool to decrease the maximum size of a virtual disk. You need to manually create a 2nd, smaller disk; attach it to your guest; run a disk imaging utility inside the guest to transfer all the bits to the new disk; then swap the disk (make sure it is active) to be the 1st disk and remove the original disk; if the guest boots successfully, you can then delete the original larger disk.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

ludloff — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:30:40 GMT

I know about the "defrag and then eliminate the zeros, to
shrink the virtual disk" option. However, I was looking for
something else; namely the ability to shrink a virtual disk.
That is, defrag the guest, shrink its partition, and then do
a shrink of the virtual disk.

In essence a reverse of the "grow a virtual disk, then grow
the partition inside it" path.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Andreas Masur — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:37:17 GMT

I would like to shrink a virtual disk. How do I do that?

Your answer can be found in the following thread....

Ciao, Andreas

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

ludloff — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:32:06 GMT

vmware-vdiskmanager

I would like to shrink a virtual disk. How do I do that?

Why would anyone ever wanna do that? Well... when
I created the virtual disk, the host drive had sufficient
space to hold it (if it were to ever fill up). However, by
now two things have happened: first, the host disk is
getting filled up with other stuff, and second, it looks
like I won't be needing as large a virtual disk after all.

Therefore I'd link to shrink the virtual disk, to prevent
the scenario in which it would (fill up and) not fit onto
the host disk -- which kinda gives me the creeps... :-o

Fwiw, the virtual disk in question is stored in 2G files,
most of which haven't reached 2G yet -- so if I'm not
mistaken, then it's of type 1 (vmware-vdiskmanager).

Also, I am capable of shrinking the partition that is in
said virtual disk (or so I believe -- I'd have to defrag it
before using e.g. Partition Magic... but I'm worried that
defragmenting it [in the VM] will cause all 2G chunks
to be allocated, i.e. I'd run out of host disk space).

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

tsubasa168 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:27:07 GMT

For users who don't want to mess with the command
line, I wrote a quick-n-dirty GUI wrapper for
vmware-vdiskmanager in the spirit of RDPetruska's
VMware DiskManager GUI.

This program allows you to create a new virtual disk,
expand an existing virtual disk, or defragment an
existing virtual disk.

Hopefully, this functionality will be incorporated into the next release of fusion! Love the ability to resize without needing to resort to the command line!

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:09:53 GMT

I have an unallocated vdisk... and despite the recommended steps.. I couldn't use vdiskmanager prior to using iDefrag... after using iDefrag I was then able to use vdiskmanager. I had already used diskeeper prior to using either... and after using vdiskmanager, another run of using iDefrag didn't do any further defragmenting... but keep in mind that with iDefrag I was only doing the Quick (on-line) Defrag because for some reason I couldn't unmount the Mac HD (when booted from an external drive) to do the Full Defrag..

I do see a continuous chunk of blank space following what appears to be a large red chunk... so I assume this is an area of the yet unallocated vdisk...

There is still a good deal of red space...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:11:50 GMT

Well, after deleting most all my programs from the VM on the VD, I still couldn't use vdiskmanager to defrag, ... later when booted to an external clone, I used iDefrag to do a Quick Defrag (on-line, meaning mounted), and then afterwards, I was able to at least start the vdiskmanager defrag... I'm waiting right now to see the results...

For some reason, I can't unmount my internal drive to do the full defrag with iDefrag... and my mac has been running all night (from the external drive)... so I don't know if its spotlight that is stopping me...

To clarify, I'm booted off the external drive, and using vdiskmanager to defrag the virtual machine on the virtual disk on the internal drive. I first had to do a Quick Defrag of the entire internal disk using iDefrag to be able to even to initiate the virtual defrag using vdiskmanager.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Pat Lee — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:18:47 GMT

You might want to see. It may work in that case, but I don't recommend doing that to begin with because the suspend state is based upon the state of a known setup when suspended.

Pat

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:16:56 GMT

Wonderful... I went to open my virtual machine after the disk expansion... and it was just a 'resume' state... not a full boot up (I mean it was quick, no time to eat sandwiches.. )... but I thought I remembered shutting down the vm... (I was doing this on my clone on the external which is on a partition bigger than the partition on the internal)...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:14:32 GMT

Well how much space would the Mac HD need... I read that windows likes 20% free space... is that the same for the Mac....

PS. I booted from an external drive.. and cannot unmount my internal Mac HD... which I was trying to do for iDefrag...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Pat Lee — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:57:47 GMT

To expand a disk, you need to shut it down.

Pat

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:54:57 GMT

Can you use vdiskmanager to expand te disk when the vm is suspended... or are you supposed to shut it down first...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 13:09:35 GMT

Using log file
/var/tmp//vmware-markcox/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to defragment: There is not enough space on
the file system for the selected operation (14).

Does the above message refer to enough space on the
virtual drive, or on the Mac HD...

Probably the Mac HD - I believe that defragmenting a virtual disk requires as much free space as the maximum space of the virtual disk, unless it's split into 2GB chunks in which case it only requires 2GB free.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 02:07:49 GMT

Using log file /var/tmp//vmware-markcox/vdiskmanager.log
Failed to defragment: There is not enough space on the file system for the selected operation (14).

Does the above message refer to enough space on the virtual drive, or on the Mac HD...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

mystere — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:08:26 GMT

Cool - good skills etung ....

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

piebas — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:10:21 GMT

ok, now it's clear....

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

RDPetruska — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:02:10 GMT

Converting Disk types (to/from monolithic/2GB-split and/or growable/preallocated), NOT Disk Adapter types (IDE/SCSI).

Re: New version: 0.2007.06.18

piebas — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:00:28 GMT

What dus de covert doing?
When it is not converting ide -> scsi.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

fox_michael2 — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 01:31:02 GMT

Nice work.

New version: 0.2007.06.18

etung — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:41:05 GMT

Changes:
* Improve logging
* Added Convert action
* Added missing Edit menu, removed extraneous Help menu
* Mock-up of Raw Disk action (does not yet work)

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

bgarner — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:35:58 GMT

Thanks etung!
After walking a few people through disk expansion on the phone I was about to fire up applescript studio myself.

Blake-

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

DaveP — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:42:28 GMT

Brilliant. Thanks!

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

manfredell — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:18:37 GMT

THANKS A LOT! This should have come (perhaps it will) with Fusion from the start.

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:50:20 GMT

Someone else was advocating defragging the Mac before using diskeeper (or defragging the guest)

You're placing Mac defragging as the last step, but with respect to VMDK files.. and I've only seen idefrag give me the option to defrag the entire disk (not sure what the selection with cursor/grabber really does)

So if I combine the two advocations (yes, advocations), it'd become, for a not-pre-allocated vdisk,

1. Defrag the host
2. Defrag the guest
3. Defrag with Eric's Tool
4. Defrag the host

Preallocating removes the need to use Eric's Tool; and using Boot Camp removes the need to use both Erics's Tool and one of the two stages of Defragging the host (though you'll need to defrag the host irregardless)

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Pat Lee — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:36:11 GMT

As Eric said in the tip in his tools, I believe that the order to do any defragmentation of virtual disks is:

1) Defrag the files inside the guest using the tools supplied by the guest OS or third party tools
2) Then use the VMware Tools or even easier with Eric's graphical tools
3) Defrag the VMDK files using Mac defragmentation tools if necessary

If you are a pre-allocated virtual disk taking the entire space up front, I believe that you just use the guest tools and then Host OS tools if necessary.

If you are using a raw disk (Boot Camp), you should use the defragmentation utilities from Windows or other guest inside the VM.

Hope that helps.
Pat

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

adamsimpson — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:23:15 GMT

If we are using a pre allocated vdisk is there any benefit of using vdiskmanager over the regular windows defragger?

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:13:59 GMT

Okay... so does this mean I should just use Diskeeper for the Boot Camp partition, and for the vdisk, use just iDefrag and vdiskmanager GUI and not Diskeeper...

I have Vista in both Boot Camp and also in a vdisk.. which is not preallocated...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Pat Lee — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:40:33 GMT

In looking at what Eric posted, this is graphical interface for our command line tools that ONLY work with virtual disks. Boot Camp disks need not apply.

Thanks again to Eric for making a nice tool for Fusion users!

Pat

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Obeechi — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:32:13 GMT

Well.. is the goal to use iDefrag, and Diskeeper, and vdiskmanager to defrag.. all together in some set order, where maybe even iDefrag is run at the tail-beginning and the tail-end et ...

Or, is vdiskmanger only meant for vdisk's and not for boot camp partitions...

Re: vdiskmanager GUI

Pat Lee — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:21:39 GMT

Eric,

This is great, thanks for making this happen.

Pat Lee
Senior Product Manager - Mac Products
VMware

vdiskmanager GUI

etung — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:50:45 GMT

For users who don't want to mess with the command line, I wrote a quick-n-dirty GUI wrapper for vmware-vdiskmanager in the spirit of RDPetruska's VMware DiskManager GUI.

This program allows you to create a new virtual disk, expand an existing virtual disk, or defragment an existing virtual disk.