Increasing Disk Space Allocation to the Guest System

[GGBJR]

I am using Workstation v.6.5.2. I have lots of excess space on the hard drive for the host system, but in hindsight I originally did not allocate a sufficient amount of space for the guest system. Is there a quick (and painless!) way in which I can assign increased disk storage to the guest operating system without deleting Workstation and re-instaling?

Gordon Biggar

Houston, Texas

[golddiggie]

You can allocate more to the VM disks but to get the guest OS. How painful it will be to get the guest OS to recognize the new space depends, entirely, on the guest OS, and what method you use. If you wish to increase the C drive of a Windows guest, depending on the version, will determine what you need to do. You could have a few options. For a D drive (secondary drive), it's a lot easier. Windows 2000 and XP make you do certain things for the boot drive (secondary drives being much easier). Windows 7 makes it pretty easy to expand either drive.

VMware VCP4

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[a_p_]

As golddiggie said, it depends on the OS and which partition you want to resize.

To expand the virtual disk (vmdk) use "vmware-vdiskmanager.exe". You will find this CLI utility in the VMware Workstation's installation directory.

That's the easy part.

The following description assumes you are running Windows (without dynamic disks)

1. If you have multiple partitions on your virtual disk and you want to expand the last one, you may use diskpart on the VM itself. Except for the case that you configured the pagefile to be on this partition.

2. If you only have a system partition or the last partition contains the page file, I recommend to attach the virtual disk to another VM, use diskpart to expand the partition and then re-attach the vmdk to the original VM.

3. For other scenarios, boot the VM using a third party partitioning tool (like gparted...) to modify the partitions.

André

[GGBJR]

Many thanks for the suggestions offered. I should have stated that I am using Vista (64-bit) Home Premium for the Host system, and Vista (32-bit) Home Premium for the Guest.

I have another desktop at another location that is similarly configured (i.e., Host/Guest), and there I am using maybe one-half of the space allocated. I am beginning to think that the problem is a system-related one, but I am not much into computer technology. I will delete some program files, and run a disk cleaner, but the saved space immediately gets eaten up. When I boot up into the guest, and run Comupter, it tells me that I have something like 5.5 GB free out of 16 GB allocated, but the red line (usage) nonetheless takes up the entire horizontal space. Then, if I come back to Computer a few minutes later, I may have only 115 mb free.

I ran msconfig, and all the service programs are from Microsoft; there are only five programs running under the Startup menu.

Something doesn't quite seem right. The programs that I am running in the Guest environment are largely DOS-related, and they don't take up much space. I use Windows Security Essentials for my anti-virus, and I have run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, but nothiing shows up.

Confused!

Gordon

[a_p_]

From what you are saying, it looks like an application goes crazy

What you could do as a first check, is running the Windows search wizard, searching for all files modified on the current date.

Maybe this gives you a hint.

André

[golddiggie]

Try disabling the Windows System Restore function and see if that helps. I would also make sure you don't have the automatic updates function set to do everything automatically. I never allow Windows Update to download/install anything without my explicit 'ok' on the items.

Check to see what size the page file is as well (for the VM/guest).

To be honest, 16GB is light for Vista to sit on. It might be ok for a C drive, but you'll run out of space once you start installing apps and try to run anything. My minimum (unless the OS wants more) is a 20GB C drive, with a D drive created for software to be installed onto. I've also setup guests with 80GB C drives (and no D drives) when they are the client OS (XP, Windows 7, never felt the need to inflict vista on myself, I'm not that depraved).

Did you not see how the VMware Workstation defaulted to a 40GB disk size when you created the VM?? Going all the way down to less than half of that is NOT advisable. I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't be facing issues if you had accepted the default C drive size (or gone above it)... I never go below what the VM creation wizard has for the initial drive size. If anything, I go over that (such as 20GB versus the 8GB minimum for things like XP or Server 2003)...

Try disabling the Microsoft AV product and see if that helps. While I do have the Windows Defender installed on my systems (kind of hard not to these days), I don't use the Microsoft AV product. I actually picked up the Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 package (for three systems) and have been using that. You can try it out (for free) for 30 days before deciding if you want to buy it. You could also go with the free avg product if you're not able to spend the few dollars for the Kaspersky products.

With all the issues you're having with the VM, I would delete it from disk and create a fresh one. DO give it at least 40GB for the C drive.

VMware VCP4

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[GGBJR]

I think that the size issue could be a factor. I went to Windows Explorer and highlighted the Windows folder. It tells me that it is requiring 13.5 gb of my 16 gb allotted. Virtual memory is using 1.3 gb.

What I don't understand is why my other similarly-configured desktop runs without a problem. I won't be able to access it until next week, but I am curious as to how much space Windows is taking up there. (That WMware system was installed by a computer professional, but that may not have anything to do with the situation. I merely duplicated the disk storage that he had used when I set up my current system at this location.)

Since newer versions of VMware Workstation are now available, one thought that I had was to uninstall my present setup, re-install using the newer version -- at the same time allocating more drive space. Before I go this route, however, I would like to check my other desktop to see if it is using the same amount of drive space, or substantially less. If the latter, then I suppose I need to use msconfig to view the Microsoft services to assess if one or more are hogging space. It's a procedure that I would prefer to avoid!

I must say that I am guilty of installing most the "important" updates from Microsoft, unless they are clearly not related to anythng that I am doing. I am essentially running DOS programs in the Guest system that will not run in the 64-bit environment.

Many thanks for your inputs and for the time devoted.

GB

[golddiggie · Accepted solution]

If you're just looking to run DOS items, I wouldn't have selected Vista for the guest OS... Probably be a lot better off using XP Pro (SP2) than any version of Vista... For one thing, XP uses a lot less space on the drive and such... You could run XP Pro (easily) on a 16-20GB vDisk... IF you're dead set on running VIsta, then get the Business edition and run that. I'd never use any of the home editions for any kind of business use. Windows 7 is much better than Vista was (Windows 7 is commonly referred to as "Vista done right" within the IT community). I'm actually using Windows 7 Professional x64 on two of my systems. I have one XP Pro VM on my main system for when I need to either run software that's only able to run on it, or when I need to test something out. Otherwise, I stick with Win7 these days.

Vista Home (Basic or Premium) are not exactly the wisest choices for operating systems... Especially if you need to perform work on that system...

VMware VCP4

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[GGBJR]

Ooooooooh.....that smarts.

On a backup computer here in NJ, I have XP Pro (SP3), which my daughter -- who is in to computer graphics -- gave me. And, the Windows folder? How about 3.1 gb. That hurts. Of course, the installation CD is down in Houston, but on my next trip up this way I will have to make the switch. I don't envy the fact that I will have to re-install software, as well as upgrade XP to the present, but at least that should carry me for a number of years. I suppose the original Vista (32) installation (in the guest) simply grew in size over time with updates being added each month.

A couple of decades back, I wrote a lot of investment programs in dBase III, and they are as useful today in my business, as they were at the time I wrote them. (I had majored in English Literature/Philosophy in an earlier century, so I was aptly trained for this type of work.) Plus, an outfit in Italy (Printfil) has developed software that enables one to capture printed output, originally intended for LPT-1, which can now be printed to Adobe as a pdf file, or to USB printers et al, so why re-write all of my work? (Plus, I don't have the time.)

I never went the XP route, because I was able to keep Windows 2000 going for almost a decade. The User Forum for 2000 contained very knowledgeable folks, like yourself, who kept me out of trouble for years. I knew nothing about Vista, except that it had encountered a lot of bad press in its early years. I liked the idea of going the Vista (64-bit) route, but knew that it wouldn't handle any of my dBase programs. I had heard about concepts like VMware, so I blindly struck out in that direction to get around the DOS limitation of 64-bit systems. I never gave any thought as to what operating system to use in the guest. Since I have Vista (32-bit) on a laptop, I said why not the same?

Sorry for the digression. Your inputs were obvioulsy most useful, and I simply wanted to acknowedge same. Again, many thanks!

Gordon

[GGBJR]

Technical follow-up:

I originally installed Workstation v. 6.5.2. Version 6.5.4 says that its installation will overwrite the existing version.

If I want to uninstall v. 6.5.2, so that I can address the space allocation issue, will v.6.5.4 not be able to install, because I would have already uninstalled the earlier version? Or, after uninstalling my original version, do I have to perform a re-install of v. 6.5.2, allocate the correct space, and then install v.6.5.4, which will overrride my original version?

Thanks.

GB