Why doesn't Fusion GUI allow creation of disks less than 40GB ?

[OxkAMam]

Is there a reason, as command-line vmware-vdiskmanager.exe tool allows minimum size of 100MB ?

If there isn't any particular reason, can the GUI be changed to allow smaller disks.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

Using the VMware Fusion GUI the smallest virtual hard drive I could make was .11 GB or 112.6 MB so how much smaller do you want?

[OxkAMam]

When I say GUI, I mean under a VM's Settings->Hard Disks. It won't let me create a virtual disk smaller than 40GB.

My mistake - I was trying to change the size of an existing 40GB disk to 30GB. The smallest disk I can create is 0.11GB, which is fine.

BTW, the error message is incorrect as it says "Disk size can range from 0.1 to 2040.0 GB", but the smallest disk size allowed is 0.11.

[WoodyZ]

When I say GUI, I mean under a VM's Settings->Hard Disks. It won't let me create a virtual disk smaller than 40GB.

My mistake - I was trying to change the size of an existing 40GB disk to 30GB. The smallest disk I can create is 0.11GB, which is fine.

The size of a virtual hard drive can only be changed downward in the GUI while the disk is new and has not been partitioned/formatted by the Guest OS. It can however be changed upwards after has been partitioned/formatted by the Guest OS.

If you need a smaller disk after the OS has been installed you can use any of the relevant imaging methods that you would use to image physical hard drives or use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone to create a new smaller virtual hard drive. Personally I use either Symantec Norton Ghost from a Live Windows CD/DVD/ISO Image or Clonezilla Live.

BTW, the error message is incorrect as it says "Disk size can range from 0.1 to 2040.0 GB", but the smallest disk size allowed is 0.11.

Yes the message is not accurate.

[OxkAMam]

Thanks WoodyZ!

[admin]

The size of a virtual hard drive can only be changed downward in the GUI while the disk is new and has not been partitioned/formatted by the Guest OS. It can however be changed upwards after has been partitioned/formatted by the Guest OS.

To expand on this a little more, OS X's installer doesn't automatically format blank disks (since Apple doesn't ship any Macs like this), so Fusion creates OS X Server guests with a preformatted drive. In contrast, Windows and Linux deal with blank disks fine, so Fusion does not preformat disks. This is why you can (initially) adjust a virtual disk downward for a guest other than OS X Server.

The default size of an OS X Server guest disk is 40 GB. If you want to start with a smaller disk, delete it, create a new one of the right size, and partition it with Disk Utility before continuing with the OS X Server install.