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unrealone
Contributor
Contributor

Resizing Windows VM running on ESXi 5.5

Hi all,

I have an ESXi 5.5 server which has a VM running on it with Server 2003 and SQL, there is a single 40GB windows volume. I have plenty of physical space on my ESXi, how do I go about resizing this windows volume to 80GB?

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NetRock
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi unrealone,

First you gotto increase the size of your Virtual Machine's vdisk by going to VM's edit setting and increase the size of the vmdk
be aware that increasing the size of the vmdk's depends on the SCSI controller that you have chosen in the installation process.

You can not increase the disk if you have a vmdk with Bus Logic Parallel SCSI controller.

After you have increased the vmdk's size then you should login to your OS and increase the Partition size in Disk Management snap-in.

To increase the partition's size with Disk Management, the unallocated space must be neighbor with the partition otherwise you shoud use third-part tool.

Hope it helps

NetRock

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f10
Expert
Expert

If you want to increase the size of the is disk then you would have to use 3rd party tools or do the following:

Power off VM

Increase the size of vmdk

Remove the vmdk from the VM. Do not delete from disk.

Add this vmdk to another VM with the same is version

Use windows disk manager to increase the windows partition.

Once increased, remove the vmdk from this VM and add it back to source VM.

When adding back make sure you use SCSI 0:0 and use the same scsi controller.

Easy?

-f10

Regards, Arun Pandey VCP 3,4,5 | VCAP-DCA | NCDA | HPUX-CSA | http://highoncloud.blogspot.in/ If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".
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MKguy
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

After increasing the size of the VMDK (online, unless you use virtual IDE disks), you can increase the size of a Windows 2003 system partition online, without any downtime too with the extpart tool:

http://johan-grotherus.blogspot.de/2011/10/use-dell-extpart-utility-to-expand-your.html

Non-system partitions on Windows 2003 can be expanded with Windows' own diskpart tool.

-- http://alpacapowered.wordpress.com
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unrealone
Contributor
Contributor

@NetRock

I have shutdown the VM server, and as some have mentioned by controller is greyed out?

Says Think Provision, I don't appear to have the option to increase the disk size.

Is there a way round this? Under SCSI, I have the option to change the controller, or will this break the OS running on the VM?

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unrealone
Contributor
Contributor

Would appear I have the bus logic scsi controller !

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ScreamingSilenc

Only way you can increase the size is to change the controller type which is explained well in this KB VMware KB: Converting a virtual IDE disk to a virtual SCSI disk

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Before you change anything, please double check that the VM has no active snapshots!

Check the virtual disk's .vmdk name in the VM's HDD settings to ensure it doesn't end with s.th. like "...-00000x.vmdk".

André

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King_Robert
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

In windows 2003 OS you can not expand the disk size from Windows Disk Management tool. you have to use third party Partition Manager Tool.

For Example (You Can use Acronis Partition Manager).

But Before that you have Shut Down the VM and Edit settings  to add another HDD. Power On the VM and run Acronis Partition Manager tool to merge the empty HDD in the C Drive.

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unrealone
Contributor
Contributor

@King_Robert

Do I need to add a new harddrive or can I just increase the size of the existing one?

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

If you just want to resize the virtual disk there's no reason to add another one. Btw. did you already check whether the VM has active snapshots?

André

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unrealone
Contributor
Contributor

Yes I just want to resize the disk, thanks. I had a look and couldn't see any, but if there is some, you suggested they should be deleted?

But isn't this a good recovery point if all goes wrong?

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Snapshots are a good way to be able to revert in case of issues with the guest OS itself. However, in order to be able to resize a virtual disk, it's required to delete all snapshots from the Snapshot Manager, otherwise the GUI won't allow you to resize the virtual disk to to prevent data corruption.

André

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