shrink a vmdk from a mac hosted vmware

[bill_209]

i am running vmware fusion (10.0.1) on a Mac (Mojave 10.14.6)

need to reduce the virtual disk from 240 GB to 140 GB on a Windows 10 x64 installation within the VM. i have logged into windows and reduced the C partition from the original 240 GB to 140 GB.

however, when i try to reduce the VMDK via the settings menu, it tells me that 240 MB is the minimum amount allowed.

other threads mention using VCenter Converter Standalone to reduce the size of the VMDK, but this appears to be a Windows-only application.

i am very much a noob at this, is there a way to reduce the drive for a mac-based VM?

thank you so much for any help you can provide.

bill

NOTE:  this VMDK is NOT pre-allocated.

[POCEH]

Looks that shrinking of VMDK do not reduce volume size in guest OS (Windows).

Run diskmgmt.msc in Windows and then reduce size of volume(s).

HTH

[bill_209]

POCEH,  thank you for the suggestion;  i have already shrunk the C: drive from 240 MB to 140 MB, but do not see that i can specifically shrink the volume in diskmgmt.msc on which the C: drive is located.

i also followed the directions on this KB article:  VMware Knowledge Base , and while everything went well, the VMDK did not shrink and still report 240 MB. 

Thanks again for your help.

[patanassov]

Hello

If I remember correctly, there was some issue when shrinking was involved via Workstation UI, while command line worked. I.e. run "vmware-vdiskmanager -k <path_to_vmdk>". Not sure whether how this is this with Fusion but there is a good chance it is quite similar

If you want to go with Converter, you can still do that by installing it in the Windows VM you want to shrink and converting 'this local machine', though the process will be lengthier. See if this can help: VMware Knowledge Base (and never mind it reads 'physical machine', the process is the same with a powered on VM).

HTH

Plamen