VM disk more than double in size

[OscarJ]

Hi,

I'm running Fusion 2.06. I have a Windows XP VM that started at 40 gig and after a few months is now at 102+ gigs! I chose the Split into 2Gb Files option when I install it. Don't think I've loaded so much stuff in it for the VM to be that big. I've tried the Disk Cleanup option and it goes through the process but it does not shrink the file at all. The VM has gotten very slow and now even the Mac side turns sluggish when I use the VM. Any ideas on how to bring it back to normal size?

One thing, I noticed the VM turned slow and then that it had grown up that much after upgrading to Snow Leopard. I've tried a few days ago to upgrade to Fusion 3.01 but the VM won't boot. Had to go back to 2.06.

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

The Virtual Machine Package has grown in size beyond the size of the virtual hard drive because you're either taking and using Snapshots and or have AutoProtect enabled.

My suggestion would be to at a minimum backup user data from the Virtual Machine however I'd backup the entire Virtual Machine Package and then delete the Snapshots and turn off AutoProtect as well. Once you consolidated the snapshots you can take another or turn AutoProtect back on however, and without getting into any details, I wouldn't use AutoProtect.

[OscarJ]

Thanks for the good suggestion but I have no Snapshots or Autoprotect enabled. Actually, I had one snapshot that I deleted and that gave me back about 30gig. The Vm was around 130gig at one time and is currently at 102gig. But the original size was 40gig.

[WoodyZ]

Have a look at and provide a file listing of the Virtual machine as described in the "Get a file listing of the .vmwarevm bundle" section and attach it to a reply post.

The bottom line is even if you don't see any snapshots in the Snapshot Manager you still have them as they're probably just orphaned however you can try taking a snapshot and then deleting it as this has been known to be one way to try and correct orphaned snapshots and if that doesn't work then you'll have to image the Virtual Machine using as product like Ghost or create a new Virtual Machine using VMware vCenter Converter.

[OscarJ]

I see what you mean. See attached a partial display of the VM contents, There are some old snapshot files still there. I've tried creating a new snapshot and then delete it but only the new one will go away. Any way way to delete those old snapshot files safely?

Not sure how to capture a full listing of the VM contents. There are 128 files total including one Applications folder with 474 other files, many of them duplicated. If I select the files and do a copy it will copy the files themselves.

Thanks much

[WoodyZ]

Really doesn't matter as the partial screenshot shows the orphaned snapshots and from what you've said your only choice is to do as I previously suggested

[PaulSvirin]

You can also try shrinking your VMDK:

Have a look whether this method is suitable for you.

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Paul Svirin

StarWind Software developer ( http://www.starwindsoftware.com )

[OscarJ]

Great tip! I'll give it a try as soon as I can.

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

Great tip! I'll give it a try as soon as I can.

Do not attempt to shrink individual virtual hard disks as the link document suggests as you'll render the Virtual Machine inoperable under the current circumstances since taking/deleting a snapshot did not clear up the orphaned snapshots you need to create an image of the existing Virtual Machine's virtual hard drive in order to consolidate the base disk with the snapshot disks. You can do this using a product like Symantec Norton Ghost or you can use VMware vCenter Converter otherwise you'll be left with the current configuration and if you modify an individual disk independently from the others you'll break a working Virtual Machine in this particular case!

[OscarJ]

Hi Woodyz,

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't about to try to manipulate individual virtual HDs. I saw they were already consolidated into my one VM. However defragging and shrinking the base disk helped me to regain some 30 gig. My VM is now about 74Gig from 102Gig. The orphaned Snapshots still there tough. Not being as savvy with VMs, I'm trying to fully understand what you're suggesting before I try it. I get that I have to create a disk image using tools like Norton Ghost, this from my running Windows VM. But then what do I do with that image? Create a new windows Vm and import the disk image into it? I'll appreciate a little more detail on getting my VM back to normal. Recreating the VM is not an option as I have a number of programs installed for which I no longer have the original disks and it will be a big pain to re-license them.

Thanks

Oscar

[WoodyZ]

Conceptually there is no difference between a Virtual Machine or a Physical Machine when it comes to creating a Disk Image and restoring it to another Disk or copying one Disk to another and if you do not have and or know how to use disk imaging/copying software then you may want to just use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone to create a new Virtual Hard Drive that will contain the contents of your present one and use this to either add to a new Virtual Machine (probably easier to do then the following) or swap out the old virtual hard drive for the new one and clean up to orphaned disks in the process.