Vmware C drive issue

[Shaily]

How can I extend my C drive space without restart my VM machine.

Please explain me all the possibilities.

[a_p_]

It depends on the guest OS version you are using. For Windows Vista/2008 and newer, you can just increase the virtual disk size (unless you have active snapshots) and then use the Disk Management within the guest OS to resize the partition.

André

PS: Please post your question in the appropriate forums. For a list of forums see https://communities.vmware.com/community

[Shaily]

Still have confusion VM need restart or not ?

[a_p_]

As I said, it depends on the guest OS. With Windows Vista/2008 and newer you can increase the partitions online.

André

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi,

If you are using OS like Vista/2008 and later then you can go to Disk Management and extend the drive.

But if you are using Older version of OS like XP/ 2003 and older then you have to use third party tool Magic Partition for extending the drive.

NOTE : 1) Make sure you take OS drive backup before using third party tool

             2) This third party tools is not officially recommended, But yes you can use it. In case of any corruption you have backup as mention in point 1

[Shaily]

Correct me if I'm wrong for older version ie XP/ 2003 I have to use third party software to extend the drive space for C or D, but in case of windows 2008 or above no need any software and through Disk management partion can be extend.

[a_p_]

Yes, however the newly added disk space has to be adjacent to the partition you want to increase. This means that if you have e.g. two partitions C: and 😧 on a single virtual disk, you can only increase 😧 from the Disk Manager.

André

[Shaily]

Can you Pls explain me in brief spats by steps :-

1) One VM machine running XP 32 bit and only single C drive ( free space 100 MB out of 20 GB) What should I do ?

2) One VM machine running Windows 2008 R2 with Signal drive C ( free space 2 GB out of 60 GB) What should I do ?

[a_p_]

To increase the XP partition you need to use a third party tool. What I usually do in this case is to shutdown the VM, increase the virtual disk's size and boot the VM from a Windows 7/2008 DVD/ISO. Once the language selections dialog shows up, press Shift-F10 to open a command prompt. Start diskpart.exe, run list volume, select the C: drive using select volume <volume# of C:> and enter extend. Alternatively. you can use any other partitioning tool (e.g. gparted live).

Increasing the C; partition of the Windows 2008 R2 VM is much easier. After increasing the virtual disk size, simply open the disk management in the guest OS and increase the partition. Increasing the disk/partition can be done with the VM powered on.

André

[BoneTrader]

Hello Shaily,

if you want to extend a disk under Windows use the following steps:

- >  Server Mananger -> Storage -> Disk Management

-> Action -> rescan disks

then

start -> run -> cmd (with admin privl.)

type the following -> diskpart

                             -> list volume (Shows you your volumes)

                             -> select volume # (replace # for your volume number)

                             -> extend

Bone

[Shaily]

Thanks Bone.

Let me follow the steps ":)

Regards,

[admin]

There are 10 steps to increase the Disk Space.

1

Make sure the following prerequisites are met:

• The virtual machine is powered off.

  

• The virtual disk is not mapped (on Windows guests) or mounted (on Linux Guests). You cannot expand a virtual disk while it is mapped or mounted.

  

• The virtual machine has no snapshots.

  

• The virtual machine is not a linked clone or the parent of a linked clone.

  

• To determine whether the virtual machine has snapshots, is a linked clone, or is the parent of a linked clone, check the information at the top of the Summary tab for the virtual machine.

  

1. 

   2

   Select VM > Settings.

2. 

   3

   On the Hardware tab, select Hard Disk for the virtual hard disk to expand.

3. 

   4

   Select Utilities > Expand.

4. 

   5

   Set the new maximum size for the virtual disk.

5. 

   6

   Select Expand.

6. 

   7

   Click OK after the disk expansion process is complete.

7. 

   8

   Download the Gparted iso. Gparted is a free disk management tool. You can use any of the available tools. 

8. 

   9

   Mount the Iso on the VM that we have just expanded and power on the VM. Ensure that the VM boots from the Gparted iso.
   • Gparted provides a friendly UI to do partition and disk operations. The expanded size would appear as unpartitioned space. Resize the existing volume to claim the expanded size. Apply the changes and reboot.

     

9. 

   10

   On Reboot, the disk would reflect the new size.

[a_p_]

@Fillips

When copying complete blog posts, at least mention the source (How to Increase Disk Space in VMware: 10 Steps (with Pictures)) or even better just post the link to the blog post.

André