How to resize virtual disk file?

[bhavtosh]

hi,

i just started using VM workstation; i made an image and installed win2003 on it but later i realized that i the disk size given at creation was not enough. Is there a way where i can increase the size of disk image?

thanks,

[admin]

You may need to do something like what is described in here: Increasing the size of a disk partition 1004071

Rick Blythe

Social Media Specialist

VMware Inc.

[bhavtosh]

hi rick,

the link that you shared is for increasing physical disk but i want to increase size of my virtual disk image.

[Martek]

I just went through figuring this out.

For me the fastest way was to use the command line utility vmware-vdiskmanager.exe (in your Workstation "program files" directory).

An example command line (from the command line help ex. 4):

vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x 36GB myDisk.vmdk

-x = expand disk to specified capacity

36GB = new size (must be larger than existing size).

HTH

[bhavtosh]

i found the answer at http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1004047&sl...

[Martek]

Well, the answer there, for Workstation, is the same answer I provided. /shrug

Martek

PASTE from your link:

Workstation / ACE Manager / Server / GSX

1. Open a command prompt.

2. Navigate to the product's installation directory.

3. Type vmware-vdiskmanager -x 100Gb vm.vmdk and press Enter.
   
   Note: Replace 100Gb with the actual size of virtual disk that you want. You can also specify Kb and Mb .

[bhavtosh]

strange; the dos command was completed in the window without any error but strange when i opened my windows explorer then file size was increased. Even when i started VM workstation and check the image properties from from VM menu then i saw the size has increased but on the physical disk the image size is the old one

i even shut down the image OS once again to cross check the size but no luck. refer to the snapshot which is after the shut down of the image

pls help

[continuum]

size in explorer does not matter yet - you have not expanded the partition - only the disk - compare in diskmanager of the guest to see what has happended to the expanded disk

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[bhavtosh]

thanks but im not clear of yr point towards partition size? i have 2 partitions C and D with both 15GB; i made VM image disk on D with initial size of 6GB and later after following the port from community i ran the command in dos prompt to increase the size of disk image from 6gb to 10gb; the command was positive but im not able to see the new size of the image neither in explorer nor in VM worstation.

that;s what i want to find out and solve.

[ascreek]

1) from the host PC install and run VM Manager http://vmmanager.sourceforge.net/

2) Use VM Manager to find the existing Virtual Machine, then unlock the hard disk size and set it to a larger size; for example from 5 GB to 10 Gb. Then click to Finish. Wait for VM Manager to process the partition.

3) Save the changes

4) Boot the Virtual Machine and using a partition manager software (Partition Manager, Disk Director, etc), resize the VM NTFS partition using the 'unallocated' free space from 5 Gb to 10 Gb. This should make the enlargement performed by your VM Manager 'effective', i.e. available inside the guest.