How To Expand An Exisiting Virtual Disk In VMWare Server
Just like physical servers, Virtual Machines created with VMWare Virtual Server, may eventually run out of available disk space. With physical servers, the solution is to add more hard disks and move data or use third party tools to resize the partition. With Virtual Machines, you could also add virtual disks, but if you need to resize the partition, one solution is to use VMWare Server built-in command line utility called vmware-vdiskmanager, that can create, rename, defragment, shrink and expand virtual disks.
To expand an existing partition, the Virtual Machine must be shutdown and powered off. The vmware-vdiskmanager utility resides in the directory that VMWare server was installed. On my install, it is located at C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory of the virtual disk you want to expand, and execute a directory listing by typing dir at the command prompt.
C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1>dir
Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is E40F-D10A
Directory of C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1
05/18/2007 05:30 PM <DIR> .
05/18/2007 05:30 PM <DIR> ..
05/18/2007 04:24 PM 8,664 nvram
05/14/2007 11:57 AM 21,751 vmware-0.log
05/14/2007 08:37 AM 20,180 vmware-1.log
05/12/2007 09:52 PM 22,807 vmware-2.log
05/18/2007 04:24 PM 19,519 vmware.log
04/02/2007 12:41 PM 850 Windows XP Professional.vmsd
05/18/2007 02:28 PM 856 Windows XP Professional.vmx
05/18/2007 04:24 PM 8,589,934,592 WTN1C.vmdk
On my Computer, the Virtual Machine is located at C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1 and the Operating System is Windows XP Professional named WTN1. The virtual disk that needs to be expanded is WTN1C.vmdk.
The command to expand a virtual disk follows:
vmware-vdiskmanager -x <new-capacity> diskname
Where:
-x is the option to expand
<new-capacity> is the new size of the virtual disk you want to expand
diskname is the virtual disk name
(NOTE: enter the full path to the vmware-vdiskmanager executable. Use quotes if the path includes spaces)
C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\vmware-vdiskmanager" -x 10GB WTN1C.vmdk
Using log file C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-Owner\vdiskmanager.log
Grow: 100% done.
The old geometry C/H/S of the disk is: 16383/16/63
The new geometry C/H/S of the disk is: 16383/16/63
Disk expansion completed successfully.
WARNING: If the virtual disk is partitioned, you must use a third-party
utility in the virtual machine to expand the size of the
partitions. For more information, see:
http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1647
Next, execute a directory listing to verify the virtual disk was expanded.
C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1>dir
Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is E40F-D10A
Directory of C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1
05/21/2007 11:31 AM <DIR> .
05/21/2007 11:31 AM <DIR> ..
05/21/2007 11:31 AM 8,664 nvram
05/21/2007 11:29 AM 19,549 vmware-0.log
05/18/2007 04:24 PM 19,519 vmware-1.log
05/14/2007 11:57 AM 21,751 vmware-2.log
05/21/2007 11:31 AM 17,724 vmware.log
04/02/2007 12:41 PM 850 Windows XP Professional.vmsd
05/21/2007 11:30 AM 936 Windows XP Professional.vmx
05/21/2007 11:31 AM 10,737,418,240 WTN1C.vmdk
You should now see the new size of the virtul disk. Also, notice the Warning message above. You will need to use a third party tool such as Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director to resize the partition inside the Virtual Machine Operating System.
To list all available options for vmware-vdiskmanager, just enter the following at a command prompt:
vmware-vdiskmanager.exe /?
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Comments on How To Expand An Exisiting Virtual Disk In VMWare Server
I do all the things you list above but i get the following error:
"There is not enough space on the File System for the specific operation (13)."
I have more than enough space on my hard disk (around 30Gb free) and i use the command in order to expand my vm disk from 4 gb to 10.
@Manos
I'll need to see the command you used when the error message occurred. Sometimes a syntax error in the command can cause a problem.
Hi guys,
why not using VMDiskSize? I have described it here:
http://rafal.drezek.info/2007/11/26/instalacja-sap-netweaver-04-demo-czesc-2/
(you can translate with http://translate.google.com. This entry is about netweaver, but part of it was about how to resize virtual disk)
regards
Rafal
I have read all the articles about expanding disk, but none deals with expanding a VM machines that are homed on a datastore that is on a SAN, used for VMotion. Is the process the same.
@Harrison Yorke
I'm not sure what you mean by "homed on a datastore" but I would think the process is the same even with disks on a SAN.
You may want to visit VMWare support forum and search around or leave a post. I'm sure somebody may be able provide an answer for you.
Whao!!!!!!!!
This really help. I've been on this for 2 weeks. God bless you. Actually, I've seen some stuff like this but this line
C:\OTHER\Virtual Machines\WTN1>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\vmware-vdiskmanager" -x 10GB WTN1C.vmdk
spot a difference. I don't know know that I have to run the command from the disk location. I was running it from the program folder.
Now the size has increased. But, there is a problem. When I boot the Ubuntu, the Filesystem size didn't change and I can't hibernate because it's saying no enough space. What could be the problem @ this junction?
@a3cube
Using vmware-vdiskmanager only expands the virtual disk file. You will then need to expand the Ubuntu disk partition using tools such as GParted.
Thank you so much.Am just get use to Ubuntu. Never heard of that. I will try it now
Hi, am unable to expand with GParted because the partitions ext3,ext2 … are locked.I mean there is a little lock icon right before each.On right click, th expand/move is not available. how can I go about this?
@a3cube
The locked icon means that the partition have been mounted and are in use.
What you need to do is use the GParted Live CD, a bootable Linux CD that takes you straight into GParted. By booting from this CD, the Ubuntu partitions will not be mounted (and not locked) so you can resize.
You can download GParted Live at this link –> http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
God bless you man! Everything went well, just the way I want it.
its a great tool by vmware and thanks to all of u guys. but as i expected, didnt happen. i mean i was going to expand my virtual disk to higher size. but wot happned is by virtual c: drive which was earlier 6 gb and i expanded it till 8 gb. it created another 2 gb unallocated partition in my virtual machine. now i am not able to merge two partitions. i dont have enough space left on c: drive of VM to install any third party partitioning tool.s
hi aquaa,
I have the same issue as yours..my C drive is having 6 GB and wanted to extend to 8GB, however, it just doesn't extended to C drive..
in ur statement, you mentioned "c: drive which was earlier 6 gb and i expanded it till 8 gb. " meaning that you have sucessfully extend it?
pls help,,many thanks.
to add on, after i perform:
diskpart.exe
list volume
select volume 1
extend
end up. it was extended the new drive to 8GB and appeared as another volume in My Computer, which now I have C drive (still with 6GB) and D drive (8GB)..this is not the result I wanted but to extended C drive to 8GB…..
You can use Gparted and it works perfectly for Disks located on a SAN, ISCSI, or local. We have done all three. There are a couple parts to this whole thing. You must increase the size of the disk using ESX or using the command line. Then you mount the Gparted ISO as a boot device and then boot off that ISO for your VM. You use the Gparted utility to expand the size of whatever partition you want. There are some particulars that must be met before this can happen, but they are well documented when you find the Gparted resize tool. Start here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
All you windows guys, don't be scared… Linux is only a couple clicks away.
Resizing the boot disk is a bit of a pain. Yet another option I've used (for Windows) is to boot up another vm, add the resized disk, open a dos prompt, and use DISKPART to expand the partition.
/jhd
works fine for me. winxp32 8G -> 16GB with PM8
thx !
Before you begin, create a backup copy of the virtual disk so that you can restore it in case of failures. Extending a virtual disk can be a complex operations for several reasons, e.g.,:
1) The virtual disk that is full happens to contain the boot/primary partition for Windows
2) There are snapshots
3) There is insufficient disk space available on the physical drive to permit growth
4) It is a multi step process and involves use of different tools and commands in a specific sequence. Creative individuals have devised workarounds to extend the primary partition for Windows by using Linux boot disks and disk partitioning tools such as GParted, and you have to get this right.
You’ll find several posts regarding this topic on Google. Essentially, they are all variations of the posts summarized in
http://blog.sharevm.com/2010/01/11/survey-extend-expand-vmware-virtual-disk/
here is an easier way! You should download and try fatVM http://www.gudgud.com/fatvm
fatVM is a reliable, robust, and safe, 1-click solution for extending the C drive of your VMware Fusion or Workstation virtual disk that is becoming full.
* It provides a simple, intuitive, interface and a reliable process that hides the technical complexity of extending a virtual disk.
* It is robust because it can extend virtual disks having snapshots and clones.
* It is safe because it preserves your original disk, which remains available to you for when the need ever arises.
Many thanks for your instruction, I did this successfully, much appreciate it.
Hi While expanding the size does the existing data or the installed software get corrupt.
My VMware is windows server 2000.
@Aniket
I never had any issues with corruption. But, to be on the safe side, always backup the data before expanding.