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CelticValley
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Disk Provisioned Size Greyed Out

I have a virtual SCSI drive for a Windows 2008 64-bit guest. I have recently run out of disk size and need to increase it. From the online help, apparantely I can increase the size even while the VM is running. However, whether running, suspended, or shutdown, I am not able to increase the disk size. The option is greyed out, as you can see below. What am I missing?

Thanks!

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DSTAVERT
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Just seeing the -000 in the disk name suggests you have an existing snapshot. You can expand with a snapshot. You would need to delete the snapshot first.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator

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DSTAVERT
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Just seeing the -000 in the disk name suggests you have an existing snapshot. You can expand with a snapshot. You would need to delete the snapshot first.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
DSTAVERT
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If you are stuck use the Standalone Converter to clone the machine to a new location. With converter you can customize and expand the size of the disk. Takes care of the OS side of expansion as well.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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Troy_Clavell
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>You can't expand with a snapshot.

fixed Smiley Happy

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DSTAVERT
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I've never been able to expand with a snapshot in play.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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Troy_Clavell
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I agree, bad things! I just fixed a typo you put in your original reply.

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DSTAVERT
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Thanks

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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CelticValley
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You're right. Thanks for the quick reply!

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GenericMoniker
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Suppose I have the same problem (disk size is disabled), but I don't have any snapshots. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

settings.png

snapshots.png

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Walfordr
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Generic...,

Which version or ESXi are you using?

The guest properties is not showing your maximum disk size possible which means there is something up with the virtual disk or storage it self.  Do you use any thirdparty backup agents for this guest, something like a Veeam?

One thing you could try is to create a snapshot and then use delete all to see if that clears it up.

If you enable TSM and cd to /vmfs/volumes/WiLife Dev/BuildServer/ - verify your datastore names (you can do an ls -la in the volumes directory).  Do an ls -lha in the actual vm folder and see if you have any lingering snapshot files.  You can also browse your datastore from the vi client but if anything is hidden then TSM cli is the best bet.

Robert -- BSIT, VCP3/VCP4, A+, MCP (Wow I haven't updated my profile since 4.1 days) -- Please consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.
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GenericMoniker
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It looks like it was a permissions issue. I had some kind of power user role, and wasn't an administrator. I found someone who was an administrator and they were able to change the disk size without a problem. Thanks for your suggestions, though.

--Eric

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Walfordr
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GenericMoniker wrote:

It looks like it was a permissions issue. I had some kind of power user role, and wasn't an administrator. I found someone who was an administrator and they were able to change the disk size without a problem. Thanks for your suggestions, though.

--Eric

Thanks for the follow up.  This is good to know because I have develeoped a bad habbit of thinking that everyone that post on here is always a full blown administrator for their virtual environment.  I never question roles.

Robert -- BSIT, VCP3/VCP4, A+, MCP (Wow I haven't updated my profile since 4.1 days) -- Please consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.
vmfan96
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Good topic.

I had the same issue where disk provisioning was Greyed out .

In my case it was because someone provisioned an IDE disk with the VM as opposed to a SCSI disk.

I was able to get arround the issue by using Converter as mentioned above.

When you get the options Screen in Converter

- Edit the Devices > for "Disk Controller" Drop down and select "Scsi Bus Logic".

- If you want to set the size of the Disk at the same time, you can edit the "Data to copy" > Select "Data copy type" and  drop down to "Select Volumes to copy" > Change the "Destination Size" for the disk that you want to increase

Hope this helps someone.

pcwizchick
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I had the same issue.  I created a snapshot and then removed it and that resolved my issue.  Thanks for the information.

tostao
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One thing you could try is to create a snapshot and then use delete all to see if that clears it up.

Robert, this worked for me thanks.

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RavindraReddy
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Thanks ..DSTAVERT  Smiley Happy

I had same issue and i found that EMC Networker backup tool was created snapshot and didnt deleted . i manually deleted the snapshots taken by EMC Networker and then i could able to extend the Disks.

Thanks Again Smiley Happy

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dmad
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Thanks again..

In my case the default controller on my VM was IDE.. this was because esxi automatically set that when I selected 'win xp' as my guest OS.

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19richardvdm80
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I can confirm that creating and removing snap works.

TedBWork
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This was my problem as well.  Make sure you remove your snapshots before you attempt to increase your volumes.  This took me a while to figure out

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amtambalika
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Deleting  the snapshot works for me. The grayed out disappears and  able to increase the size. Thanks.

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