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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How to increase virtual disk size?

I have increased the size of Virtual Disk.vmdk in Window > Virtual Machine Library > Settings > Hard Disk (SCSI) from 60 GB to 120 GB. However, this change is not shown in the Windows 10 guest machine. This still shows Local Disk (C:) 13.7 GB free of 59.5 GB.

How do I complete the increase in virtual disk size?

Chris Sackett

18 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

After increasing the virtual disk, you need to resize the C: partition within the guest OS. In case of Windows this can be done using e.g. the Disk Manager.

André

StephenMoll
Expert
Expert

You will need to go into "Disk Management" and extend the volume for the appropriate disk.

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for replies. I found Disk Management in Windows 10. Microsoft instructions are:

"In Disk Manager, right-click the basic volume you want to extend.

Click Extend Volume.

Follow the on-screen instructions."

When I right-click (C:) the command "Extend Volume" is grayed out. Is there something else I need to do first?

Chris Sackett

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Is the additional disk space adjacent to the C: volume, or is there another partition?

A basic volume can only be increased with adjacent free disk space.

André

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StephenMoll
Expert
Expert

That's a good shout, and if this is the case a partition manager would probably be needed.

I used to keep an ISO of a Linux distro live-disk, which had GParted on it, which if memory serves might have helped in this sort of situation. This software allows volumes and partitions to be moved copy and resized, and being run from a live-CD image, meant it wasn't constrained by having the areas it is being asked to manage having a live operating system running from them.

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

André, This is what I'm looking at. I'm a bit out of my depth with this stuff. Please keep it simple!

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 22.18.29.png

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Not sure what the recovery partition is used for!?

Unless you have a reason for this partition, here's what you may do:

  1. shutdown the VM (do not suspend)
  2. create a VM snapshot
  3. power on the VM
  4. delete the recovery partition
  5. increase the C: partition
  6. power cycle the VM (i..e shut down, power on)

If it works as expected, you may delete the previously created snapshot again, otherwise revert to the snapshot.


André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

André,

Sorry for further request for help. How do I delete the recovery partition?

Chris Sackett

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Please see whether you can delete it from the pop-up (right click) menu.

André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

While right-click on the (C:) drive produces a full menu, including Delete Volume, right-click on the Recovery Partition produces only the one word Help. Clicking this then shows an error message "Make sure the virtual machine's configuration allows the guest to open host applications." Presumably I need to do this. But how?

Chris

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Please open a command prompt in elevated mode (Run as Administrator), then start diskpart, and post the results of list vol.

André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Here is a screenshot:

Screenshot 2019-01-21 at 20.34.38.png

Chris

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

This doesn't look like it is the output from the VM !?

Please run the command from within the guest OS, and also run list disk to see what this shows.

André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

André,

Here is a screenshot showing list vol and list disk.I accessed this within the guest VM by typing cmd in the search box and then Ctrl-Shift-Enter for Admin rights.

Screenshot 2019-01-22 at 08.05.10.png

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Ok, the next step is to run

sel disk 0

detail disk

list part

from within diskpart to see how the partitions look like.

This should show the recovery partition. If it does run

select part #

list part

where "#" is the number of the recovery partition.

If the list part command shows an asterik left to the recovery partition, you may then try to delete the selected partition using

delete part

Caution: The above assumes that you either have a backup, or at least a snapshot for the VM to which you can revert if things don't work.

André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

André,

I took another snapshot of the VM and then ran your step-by-step commands. I got most of the way but was unable to "delete part":

Screenshot 2019-01-23 at 16.53.50.png

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Please run the previously mentioned steps, and append "override" to the delete command, i.e.

delete part override

as the last command.

André

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crsackett
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

André,

Success! I now have double the capacity on the VM disk. Many thanks for your guidance, and your patience, in sorting this out for me. Much appreciated. My Windows 10 VM now has no excuse for sluggish performance. It already seems altogether more responsive.

Regards,

Chris

Screenshot 2019-01-24 at 18.27.19.png