How to change disk from thin to thick provisioning in ESXi 6.5.0 Web UI?

[jukka4000]

Hello,

I'm trying to convert a virtual disk from thin provisioning to thick provisioning using the VMWare ESXI 6.5.0 Web UI.

I found the following article: Convert a Virtual Disk from Thin to Thick in the vSphere Web Client

However, when I right-click the .vmdk file in the Datastore browser, I can only see menu options "Delete", "Download", "Move" and "Copy". There is no option to "Inflate".

Kind regards,

Jukka

[Finikiez]

It's possible to change disk format with storage vmotion.

As per documentation Inflate option should be there Inflate Thin Virtual Disks

Can you post a screenshot? what client do you use flash or html5?

[battybishop]

Hi,

Here is a link VMware Knowledge Base  to an article that covers conversion to thick or thin.

If inflate does not show make sure your not looking at a snapshot disk or it could mean that the disk is already thick, check the summary page and ensure your looking at the right .vmdk file if your virtual machine has multiple disks.

Hope this helps

Rob

[jukka4000]

Thanks for your quick reply!

I'm using the ESXi free version with HTML5 client, so I don't have Storage vMotion.

I have attached the screenshot from the VM hardware configuration (shows that the HD is thin provisioned) and from the datastore browser ("Inflate" option is missing).

[Finikiez · Accepted solution]

Host client included with esxi 6.5 doesn't support inflating vdisks.

Try to check the latest host client version on labs.vmware.com

Maybe with the latest version it's already supported.

[Finikiez]

You can also inflate thin diks with vmkfstools command

vmkfstools --inflatedisk path to vmdk file

[jukka4000]

I updated to ESXi 6.5.0 Update 1 and now the "Inflate" option is available in the HTML5 Web UI.

Thanks for help!