Can disk size for Win Server 2008 R2 guest be reduced?

[Donzie13]

I have a thick provisioned disk of size 100GB that I'd like to reduce to 60GB. The guest OS is Windows Server 2008 R2. Does anyone have experience reducing the disk size with this guest OS?

I've seen postings about using the converter to reduce disk sizes, but the latest Converter Standalone Client doesn't seem to support Windows Server 2008 R2.

I also tried converting the VM to a template and then deploying a new VM from the template, but if I do this I'm still not able to change the disk size.

[RParker · Accepted solution]

The guest OS is Windows Server 2008 R2. Does anyone have experience reducing the disk size with this guest OS?

VM Converter can do it.

[golddiggie]

Have you tried converting it to a thin provisioned vmdk?

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[talondsm]

The Disk Management mmc in Server 2008 supports online volume shrink. I've only used it once in production so far but it seems to work fine. Shrink the partition and then svmotion it's C: vmdk to a thin disk.

[Donzie13]

In order to get the converter to work at all, I have to use the vSphere Client to change the OS for the VM from Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit). (If I don't change the OS, I get this error: "Unable to obtain hardware information for the selected machine.") Even if I change the OS, I can't change disk sizes with the converter. The converter "Data copy type" listbox only has

the "Copy all disks and maintain layout" option. I do have the option of changing the disk Type from Flat to Thin, but that's not what I want to do.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

[Donzie13]

Success!

I could not get this to work using the Converter Standalone Client version 4.0.1. I had to install the VMware Converter Enterprise plug-in, version 4.1.1. These steps then worked for me to reduce the size of the C drive:

1. Use disk management mmc in Server 2008 R2 to shrink the volume containing the C drive.

2. In vSphere Client, edit VM settings so that the selected Guest Operating System is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit).

3. In vSphere Client, select the host on which the VM resides and then select Inventory -> Host -> Import Machine. The Import Wizard has a screen allowing disks to be resized. I chose 'Select volumes and resize to save or add space' option and sizes were automatically adjusted so that the space I had freed up in step 1 was no longer allocated to drive C.

4. Finish import wizard and wait for import to complete

5. Edit VM settings on new VM so that the selected Guest Operating System is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit).

6. Also had to change SCSI Controller Type to 'LSI Logic SAS'. Somehow during the import it was changed to BusLogic Parallel. I lost 'Floppy drive 1' during the import and didn't bother adding it back.

7. Network Adapter Type was changed from E1000 to Flexible so I removed it and add an E1000.

8. Start up new VM and make sure it runs okay

The resizing worked, but I wasn't expecting the converter to change SCSI controller type, network adapter type, or Floppy drive 1, so I'm wondering what else the import may have changed. Could I have missed some other import changes that may have side-effects down the road?