Shrink VM Disks ESXi

[daveclaussen]

Hi All!

I have a VM on an ESXi 4 server. It is 75GB in size. (Windows server w/ C: 36GB and 😧 36GB)

I need to transfer this to an ESX 4 server, but I want to shrink the disk(s) as I only need 40GB (C: 20GB and 😧 20GB) before the transfer.

I want the transfered machine to be identicle to the original, just with smaller drives.

I have gone through these communities, GOOGLE and much more. I cannot find a way to do this. Can any of you fine, fellow VM'ers help me with this?

Thanks for your time.

- Dave

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

VMware Converter can do this for you. Step 3 (View/Edit Options)

[daveclaussen]

I am aware of those options, but if I run this VM through the converter, I wont end up with a "clone" will I? I thought that the converted machine would not be an exact copy of the original.

I am new to this, so please forgive my lack of knowledge.

[Troy_Clavell]

it will be an exact copy. You can sysprep the guest as part of the V2V process, but if you only want to shrink the disks, that is not necessary. Just delete the original once the "clone" has been V2V'd.

If you need/want to sysprep, you can, but I believe with the stand alone version you will need to have the sysprep files located on the machine in which you are running converter from.

If using the vCenter plugin for converter you can use vCenter's sysprep files.

[PaulSvirin]

This can also give you the idea of console process:

See p. 5.

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iSCSI SAN software

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