ESXi 5.5 - Increasing size of vm

[unrealone]

Hi all,

I have a ESXi server with 3x VMs.

The C drive on one of the VMs running Server 2003 R2 x64 is now too small, but I cannot edit it as it has hardware v10 on it?
I get this error:

"You cannot use the vsphere client to edit the settings of virtual machines of version 10 or higher"

I was planning to backup the VM with Storagecraft or Arcserve D2D, delete the VM, create a new larger one and restore.

What are your thoughts on this? Is there an easier way to do it?

How do I build a vm without it putting hardware version 10 on it? My other VM is running v8 & I can edit that with no problem.

[Troy_Clavell]

have you considered using the Web Client to edit the settings of the VM instead of the fat client?

[MKguy]

It's a known, annoying issue that you can't edit (any) settings of VMs on HW version 10 with the fat vSphere Client when connected directly to an  ESXi 5.5 host.

You need to use the Web Client that comes with vCenter. If you don't have vCenter, you're pretty lost. Don't upgrade VMs to HW version 10 unless you have the Web Client.

However, you can still extend the vmdk from the local ESXi CLI like this:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=994

PowerCLI is an option as well (if you're licensed, otherwise the API is read-only).

[unrealone]

I have a VMware subscription.

is the web client a separate download under vCenter? or do I need to download & install vCenter?

If I backup the vm, create a new vm using my esxi 5.5 and restore the backup to the new vm, will the new vm have an older version than 10?

[MKguy]

I have a VMware subscription.

That doesn't say much. There are vSphere licenses for hosts (per physical host CPU) and separate licenses for a vCenter instance. There are also bundles like Essentials/Essentials+ which bundle 6 CPU vSphere licenses with a vCenter license.

is the web client a separate download under vCenter? or do I need to download & install vCenter?

The Web Client depends on vCenter and is part of the vCenter installation ISO. You need to have vCenter installed first.

If I backup the vm, create a new vm using my esxi 5.5 and restore the backup to the new vm, will the new vm have an older version than 10?

Depends on the type of the restore. If it's just a disk-image restore then no. But instead it's more  convenient to just do this: Create a new VM, shut down the old one and just attach the old virtual disks to the new one.

[unrealone]

Thanks for this, I have VM workstation 9, will this be able to configure this vm?

[MKguy]

You don't need VMware Workstation for this. If you just create a new VM with the vSphere Client connected to ESXi 5.5, it will be HW version 8 already. As long as you don't hit the "upgrade VM hardware option" after that you're fine.

[unrealone]

Ok thanks, so  I create the new vm, will I then attach the old disks?

How will this increase the drive capacity?

[MKguy]

Of course this will not increase the disk size by itself, but since the resulting VM will be below HW version 10, it will allow you to edit VM settings again - including increasing disk size. Remember this is all just because of a a bug that downright doesn't allow you to edit any settings on HW v10 VMs.

[unrealone]

Ok i'll shutdown the old vm and create a new vm, but how do I attach the old virtual disks to the new vm?

[JarryG]

Why so complicated? I suggest your just revert your HW-version temporary back to 8. So what you need to do is:

1. shutdown VM

2. remove that VM from inventory (do NOT delete its files from disk!)

3. edit VMX-file...

    3a) ...directly on ESXi (if you are familiar with "vi" editor), or

    3b) ...download VMX-file using datastore-browser to your computer, edit, and then upload

What you have to edit in VMX-file is:

change...

virtualHW.version = "10"

to...

virtualHW.version = "8"

4. add VM again back to inventory

5. now you can edit VM-settings with your vSphere-client because it is now hw-version 8 (and add disk-space as you need)

6. upgrade hw-version back to "10"

7. power-on VM

Rest you have to do in your VM (extend file-system, or create new partition, etc.)

[unrealone]

Hi,

brilliant thank you so much.

What software can I use to edit this vmx file? I have now downloaded it.

[JarryG]

VMX-file is just common text-file. So you can use any editor that can handle text-files. But do not change coding when you want to save it (i.e. do not make Microsoft-Word file from it!)!

If you are running Windows on your computer, you can use Notepad" or "WordPad". Just save it in the same format, and with the same extension.

[unrealone]

Hi,

1) Ok I have the file open, there is several mentions of 10, do I need to change every single one or just the part which says virtual HW?

config.version = "10"virtualHW.version = "10"pciBridge0

(2) Can I leave it like this? So I can edit it in future etc.

[King_Robert]

increasing the size in windows 2003 server is not possible with Disk Manager but you can use third party Partition manager tools to increase the disk spcae.

There are software tool like Acromis partition and disk manager available.

just add a secondary HDD in windows VM and install the third party tool to merge the second disk in the drive you want to increase.

[unrealone]

Will changing the HW version to 8, and leaving it that way make it unstable? Any problem leaving it that way?

[unrealone]

Will changing the HW version cause any problems?

Any advice on this?