Grow a VMs disk via PowerCLI

[mgartley]

Hello,

I'm looking to grow some volumes on some servers via PowerCLI. I've gotten the below code to successfully extend the volume inside the guest OS once I increase it's configured size via the GUI.

Get-HardDisk "VM Name" | where {$_.Name -eq "hard disk 2"} | Set-HardDisk -CapacityGB 20 -ResizeGuestPartition -Confirm:$false

My question is:

Is there a way to increase the provisioned size of a disk via PowerCLI that I could run prior to the code above that extends the volume inside the guest OS?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Like every good answer, I will have to start with "it depends" :smileygrin:

If this is not the vdisk that holds the system partition, you can just use the Set-Harddisk cmdlet with the CapacityGB parameter. See Example 2.

If it is the system partition vdisk, you will have to use the HelperVM parameter on the Set-Harddisk cmdlet.

Note that the VM and the HelperVM both need to be powered off !

[mgartley]

figures after looking through the forums and googling for serveral hours 10 minutes after posting the question I find it. for anyone looking to do this below is what worked for me.

expands the provisioned size of the vmdk

Get-HardDisk -vm "My VM" | where {$_.Name -eq "Hard Disk 2"} | Set-HardDisk -CapacityGB 25 -Confirm:$false

extends the volume inside the guest OS

Get-HardDisk -vm "My VM" | where {$_.Name -eq "hard disk 2"} | Set-HardDisk -CapacityGB 25 -ResizeGuestPartition -Confirm:$false

[LucD]

Fyi, you don't have to do that in 2 steps afaik, you can add the ResizeGuestPartion switch on the first line

[mgartley]

Yup, your right LucD I looked at that cmdlet I don't know how may times and misunderstood the Capacity parameter.... Thanks for the reply!

I just tried it all in one line and it does indeed work. Thanks again!

[brwuchner]

I recently had a need to resize the system partition on a couple of Windows 2008R2 VMs.  Since the -ResizeGuestPartition switch does not work in this scenario, I used Invoke-VMScript to run diskpart inside the OS instead. 

Invoke-VMScript -vm $guestName -ScriptText "echo select vol c > c:\diskpart.txt && echo extend >> c:\diskpart.txt && diskpart.exe /s c:\diskpart.txt" -GuestUser $guestUser -GuestPassword $guestPass -ScriptType BAT

Hope this helps!

[chavez885]

Thanks for this. I also had to add a rescan after selecting the volume, worked great though.

[danielmgrinnell]

Worked Great for me .. thanks guys!

#List VM Disk Space

Get-HardDisk -VM VMNAME | fl CapacityGB,Name,StorageFormat

#Expand Disk Drive:

Get-HardDisk -VM VMNAME | where {$_.Name -eq "Hard disk 1"} | Set-HardDisk -CapacityGB 34 -ResizeGuestPartition -Confirm:$false

#List VM Disk Space

Get-HardDisk -VM VMNAME | fl CapacityGB,Name,StorageFormat