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TeeTime
Contributor
Contributor

Vmware DiskManager expanding not working on Pre-Allocated Disk

Hi,

I have a 5 gig pre-allocated disk. I ran the Diskmanager expanding option tool against my vmdk. I expanded it up 8gig. The message said it was succesful and took about 3 minutes to run. The VMdk file is definately 8gig now.

The problem I'm seeing is that when I launch the vmx file. It does NOT show the allocated disk size at 8gig in the VMware properties window. It still says 5gig.

Any ideas?

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doseas
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

When Diskmanager finishes, it displays a message that says you need to run a repartitioning application in order for the Guest OS to see the extra disk space.

I find that an easy way to do this is download a ISO image of Knoppix, then mount the ISO in the VM. Boot Knoppix, then run the QtPartEdutility to increase the partition space to max, then reboot to the VM's Guest OS. If you are running a version of Windows, it will automatically run chkdsk on boot -- let it complete. You should now be able to access the full 8 GB.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

whats the size of the *-flat.vmdk now ?

Close GUI and relaunch it

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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TeeTime
Contributor
Contributor

In my widows 2003 VM the disk size has NOT changed so I can't run a partition editor. The properties editor when vm is shutdown should show the new size. I'm using vmware 6.5.1

My VMDK file size is now 8,388,608.

Here is an example of doing it on Linux. I'm running this on Vista.

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tip/15344.html

As you can see from this example the properties does change in the editior. Yes I have closed and re-opened the file. The difference in this example is that its not on a Pre-allocated disk.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

You need to be precise - inside the VM whats the size of the disk - and whats the size of the C:-partition.

If the disksize is 8 Gb and the part-size is 5 Gb everything is fine.

next boot into your favorite LiveCD like BartPE or Knoppix and use either diskpart from BartPE or gparted from Knoppix to expand the partition

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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TeeTime
Contributor
Contributor

I thought I was being precise. When I boot the Windows 2003 Server VM, IT does NOT show that the disk has been changed. I Have verified everthing within the windows Disk Management properties. Nothing has changed when the VM is booted.

When the VM is shutdown the disk size is the vmdk size is the 8 gig I specified. Here are some screen shots to show you.

Thanks for you time!

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Did you close that VM after running the vdiskmanager cmd ?

If not restart VMware now

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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TeeTime
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, I have closed vmware entirely and have re-opened the vm. The only thing I haven't done is restart my vista machine. I can try that.

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Strange - a reboot of the host should not be necessary.

Try to remove the disk via the hardware-editor.

Close vmware - reopen it

Add disk again - use "use-existing disk" option

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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TeeTime
Contributor
Contributor

Ok, I think I might have found something. If you look at the screen shot of the file system. There is a file name flat , that is 8gb. Then there are f001,f002,f003 that equal about 5gig. So I decided for the heck of i to delete the flat file. After deleting the vm booted up fine, but the size is still 5 gig.

So my question is, what is the flat file? You can see the that f001 thru f003 is splitting them in 2gig chunks.

After I deleted the flat file the vm would run.. but when I tried to run the Diskmanager expander it said I was missing a file.

So where do I go from here? I do have a backup, but why is it expanding the flat file?

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

please post the exact cmd-line you used - looks like you selected the wrong file ?

___________________________________

description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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KevinG
Immortal
Immortal

After you expanded the virtual disk, did you use a third party ulitlity to expand the guest OS partition, since vmware-vdiskmanager does not do this task for you?

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