Increase size of Virtual Disk

[LarryNuke]

I am running the following:

Vista Ultimate OS Version 6 SP 1 32 bit

VMWare Workstation V 6.5.1 Build 126130

Following KB Article 1004047

I need to increase the size of the VM virtual disk so I can load additinal software on the VM. I type in the following, this shows the directory as well.

C:\program files\vmware\vmware workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager -x 20GB C:\users\larry\documents\virtual machines\clone of windows xp professional\windows xp professional-000001-cl1.vmdk

I receive the following response: diskname or some other argument is missing.

I am unable to find an error in the command line and I beleive it is exactly as shown in the KB article so I am unable to figure out what may be missing. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I have tried different placement of spaces in the command line, tried a different Virtual Disk, played with uppercase and lowercase in the command line, all to no avail.

[JoeLyons]

Hi try putting it like this:

vmware-vdiskmanager -x 20GB "C:\users\larry\documents\virtual machines\clone of windows xp professional\windows xp professional-000001-cl1.vmdk"

Joe

Remember to back EVERYTHING up before you change ANYTHING

[continuum]

WAIT

the VM seems to use at least one snapshot - if you increase disksize now - you mess up the VM

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[oreeh]

And in addition it seems to be a clone.

[RDPetruska · Accepted solution]

As Joe suggested, you need to surround the path+filename in quotes since there are spaces. If you want to avoid syntax errors, you can use my Windows GUI wrapper for the Disk Manager utility - see profile for website.

However, as Ulli said, if you have snapshots, or if this is a linked clone, then you MUST consolidate all of that before you attempt to expand the size of the virtual disk.

[LarryNuke]

Thank you everyone for your input on this issue. Maybe I'm not technical enough on this software. It was not obvious to me I needed quotes around the path to my drive. Extra thanks to RDPetruska and your software. I downloaded it and got the job done quickly. Much appreciated. I'm back on schedule with the job I needed to get done.

I just started the virtual computer and while the devices tab shows a 20GB hard disk when the machine is running it thinks it is still 8GB. Do I need to do something else so the VM will recognize the additional space?

Continued success,

LarryNuke

[sboyapati]

Hi Larry Nuke, I am novice user of VMware, using Windows Vista, VMWare Workstation 6.5.1. I have same problem as you had. Can you please provide me orderly instructions and links to download software for increasing VM disk size? Appreciate your help.

Thank you in advance.

[LarryNuke]

Just follow the link in RDPetruska profile to his web site and download his software. It worked fine for me to change the disk size. As of now I am unable to get the VMWare to recognize the larger disk size so I stil need something else done.

[redbaron51]

*considering your VM is running Windows

If it is your boot partition you will need to use a third party apps to resize the disk, i.e., Paragon, gparted, etc - please refer to this guide (http://vmware-land.com/Resizing_Virtual_Disks.html).

If it is not your boot partition you should be able to resize it using Diskpart utility.

Hope this helps.

[RDPetruska]

Just follow the link in RDPetruska profile to his web site and download his software. It worked fine for me to change the disk size. As of now I am unable to get the VMWare to recognize the larger disk size so I stil need something else done.

No, VMware does recognize the larger disk size. And so does your guest OS. However, exactly like in the physical world, when you add a new hard disk (or replace one with a larger disk, as in this case), you must run a partitioning utility to prepare the disk so that the OS can use it. Refer to the link in the post above for many methods for resizing disks.

[redbaron51]

Petruska,

When I run the vmware-vdiskmanager -x command to enlarge the size of the HDD, then in the main page of VMware Workstation the machine shows the new HDD size. However as correctly pointed by you, partitions will need to be created or existing ones extended (added size will show as unallocated).

[GeorgeCarvill]

I found this thread this morning and it discusses exactly the problem I am seeing. I now understand the partition problem. And, BTW, I can see it graphically by running the Disk Management piece in Windows Computer Management where it shows the expanded disk space in an unallocated partition.

Fine.

But what, then is the point of the -t 0 switch to set the disk type to "growable?"

[RDPetruska]

>But what, then is the point of the -t 0 switch to set the disk type to "growable?"

Totally different issue. There are several types of virtual disk, to your HOST. Your guest merely sees a hard disk.