topic Re: Error to expand disk in VMware Workstation Pro Discussions

Error to expand disk

cHamBe — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 12:41:15 GMT

Hello,

I have a VM (Workstation Pro 16.2.2 build-19200509) in Windows 10 , when I want expand the disk I have

this error ``` There is not enough space on the file system for the selected operation. ``` my configuration

of the VM:

A greeting and Thanks

Re: Error to expand disk

continuum — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:53:45 GMT

What is the desired new size of the disk ?
How much free space do you have ?

Ulli

Re: Error to expand disk

a_p_ — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 17:04:47 GMT

Has the VM been created using the monolithic (single file) .vmdk file format?

André

Re: Error to expand disk

cHamBe — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:30:54 GMT

Hello,

I only have one file vmdk

A greeting and thanks

Re: Error to expand disk

RDPetruska — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:43:08 GMT

In order to do any disk operations on a single-file (monolithic) virtual disk, you need to have at least as much free space on your host computer as the maximum size of the virtual disk, plus a small amount of overhead. So in your case, you need about 300 GB free space on your host hard disk. And more, depending on how much space you are trying to expand it to.

Re: Error to expand disk

continuum — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:45:35 GMT

What is the desired new size of the disk ?
How much free space do you have ?

Do you OneDrive ?
Do you use compressed NTFS ?

Re: Error to expand disk

a_p_ — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:48:25 GMT

That explains it. Resizing a monolithic virtual disk basically creates a new .vmdk file because it requires more space for metadata, then copies the data over to the new file, before the old .vmdk file is deleted. Therefore this task requires a lot of temporary disk space (~the size of the current .vmdk file).

Expanding sparse virtual disks (split into multiple .vmdk files) simply adds additional .vmdk files, which doesn't require a lot of disk space and is done within seconds.

What you can do in the current situation is to convert the current virtual disk to a sparse disk using e.g. the vmware-vdiskmanager command line utility. Unless you can free up some more disk space on the host, you may e.g. use an external disk as the target, and - once converted - delete the original .vmdk file, and copy the new .vmdk file from the external disk to the VM's folder. Alternatively, copy the current .vmdk file to an external disk, and use the VM's folder as the conversion target.

André

Re: Error to expand disk

cHamBe — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:20:44 GMT

Hello,

the vdmk I have it in an external disk, the only option is to generate a new vdmk in my location and then pass it to the external disk.

I follow this step to convert the monolithic disk to sparse virtual disk :

vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 targetDisk.vmdk

Once I finish the previous command I have tried again to expand the disc with the same error

``` There is not enough space on the file system for the selected operation. ```

A greeting and thanks

Re: Error to expand disk

continuum — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 16:00:22 GMT

Asking 3 times should eventually do ....

What is the desired new size of the disk ?
How much free space do you have ?

Do you use OneDrive ?
Do you use compressed NTFS ?

Re: Error to expand disk

a_p_ — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 18:13:46 GMT

>>> vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 targetDisk.vmdk

It's "-t 1" (growable virtual disk split into multiple files) what you need.

André

Re: Error to expand disk

cHamBe — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 19:03:38 GMT

Hello,

Oh, thanks but I've already done a new VM

A greeting