{excerpt}This page describes how to increase the size of a VM's hard drive. This is useful if additional space is needed to install large applications.{excerpt}
{tip:icon=false}cd /vmfs/volumes/vmpath/vclv99-77_1846-v14{tip}
You should see several files in the directory:
/vmfs/volumes/19873c05-fcd3d912/vclv99-77_1846-v14 # ls -l -rw-rw---- 1 root root 8684 Aug 13 16:34 nvram -rw------- 1 root root 4294967296 Aug 13 16:32
vclv99-77_1846-v14-6197888b.vswp -rw-rw---- 1 root root 18926 Aug 13 16:32 vclv99-77_1846-v14-Snapshot1.vmsn -rw-rw---- 1 root root 498 Aug 13 16:32 vclv99-77_1846-v14.vmsd --wxrw--wx 1 root root 3464 Aug 13 16:37 vclv99-77_1846-v14.vmx --w-rw--w- 1 root root 273 Aug 13 16:32 vclv99-77_1846-v14.vmxf -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 137538 Aug 13 16:43 vmware.log -rw-rw---- 1 root root 268505088 Aug 13 19:50 vmwarewin7-Windows764bit1846-v14-000001-delta.vmdk -rw-rw---- 1 root root 432 Aug 13 16:32 vmwarewin7-Windows764bit1846-v14-000001.vmdk
The VM is configured to run in linked clone mode because a snapshot was created before the VM was powered on for the first time. The .vmdk files in this directory only contain changes made to the master image. The master image can be determined by lookin in the vmsn file:
A full copy of the master image and delta files needs to be created in
order to be able to resize the virtual disk. Run the following command from the VM's working directory on the VM host: {tip:icon=false}vmkfstools -i vmwarewin7-Windows764bit1846-v14-000001.vmdk copy.vmdk -d thin{tip}
/vmfs/volumes/19873c05-fcd3d912/vclv99-77_1846-v14 # vmkfstools -i vmwarewin7-Windows764bit1846-v14-000001.vmdk copy.vmdk -d thin Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned Cloning disk ‘vmwarewin7-Windows764bit1846-v14-000001.vmdk’... Clone: 100% done.
h3. Resize the Virtual Disk Run the following command to resize the virtual disk. The \-X argument
should specify the total size you want the virtual disk to be, not the amount of space to add to it: {tip:icon=false}vmkfstools -X 50G copy.vmdk{tip}
h3. Download Gparted Live CD Download the [GParted Live CD ISO image|http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php]
to one of the datastores mounted on the VM host. The .iso file must reside on one of the datastores in order to be able to mount it on a VM.
h3. Replace the VM's Hard Drive with the Full Copy After the copy has been created, reconfigure the VM to use the copy of the
disk instead of the original linked clone. * Open vSphere Client * Right-click on the VM and select Edit Settings... * Select Hard disk 1 * Click Remove * Click Add... * Select Use an existing virtual disk * Navigate to the VM's working directory and select the .vmdk corresponding to the full copy of the virtual disk you created earlier (copy.vmdk)
h3. Add a CD Drive to the VM Pointing to the GParted Live CD ISO File * Click *Add...* * Select *CD/DVD Drive* * *Use ISO image* * Navigate to the Gparted ISO image you downloaded earlier * Make sure _Connect at power on_ is selected !vm-reconfigure.jpg! h3. Increase the Power On Boot Delay It can be difficult to catch the initial boot screen when the VM is powered
on in order to press Escape to display the boot menu. Add a delay: * Click on the Options tab * Select Boot Options * Set the Power On Boot Delay to a few seconds (4000 = 4 seconds)
!vm-boot-delay.jpg|border=1! h3. Use GParted to Reconfigure the Partitions Simply increasing the size of the virtual disk does not cause the amount of
usable space within the VM to increase. The partitions within the virtual disk need to be reconfigured to use all of the available space. This cannot be done from the OS of the image stored on the virtual disk. You must boot the VM using a live CD containing a partition reconfiguration utility. The GParted Live CD is free and easy to use.
* With the VM powered off, select the *Console* tab * Power on the VM * Quickly click inside the *Console* pane * Press *Esc* to display the Boot Menu * Select *CD-ROM Drive* The GParted menu should appear. * Select *GParted Live (Default settings)* * Accept the defaults Increase the size of the main partition to use all of the space * Select the main partition _(should be the largest)_ * Open the *Partition* menu _(use the mouse of press Alt-p if mouse
operations are difficult)_ * Select Resize/Move * Set New Size (MiB) to the Maximum size listed above in the box * Click Resize/Move * Open the Edit menu * Click Apply All Operations * Click Apply You should eventually see a message stating All operations successfully completed * Click Close * Reboot the VM to its hard drive If a message appears saying the hard drive needs to be checked for consistency allow the procedure to complete. * Once the VM is rebooted, log in to the image and verify the size of the hard drive has been increased
The saved VCL image will contain the larger hard drive.