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VMware ESX and ESXi Server
VMware ESX and ESXi Server
| Resizing a Virtual Disk VMDK |
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Virtual Machines tend to have only the storage they need assigned to them, generally because they are based on expensive SAN storage systems.
However requirements change, and that nice small 10gb virtual machine needs more space.
How do you resize the virtual disk (.VMDK)?
Resizing virtual disks is relativley straight forward. However, before doing anything always take a backup.
1. Shutdown the virtual machine that you would like to resize a the disk on.
2. Right click on the virtual machine and select "Edit Settings".
3. On the "Hardware" tab click on the disk you would like to resize and in the "Capacity" section enter the require size.
 We are not finished yet. If you boot the virtual machine now the OS will not see the new size, it will only see the old size.
To resize the partition on the disk use your favourite partition resizing tool. If you dont have one mine is GParted, which there is a live CD for. Download the GParted Live CD
4. Click on the "Options" tab and go to "Boot Options".
5. Tick "Force BIOS Setup" (This will boot into the BIOS screen when the VM is powered on - This is so that you can mount and ISO image before the OS boots.)
6. Click Ok to reconfigure the virtual machine.
 7. Connect the ISO image or connect the CD drive with your GParted Live CD (This is easier with force BIOS option set in step 5).
 8. Boot into GParted and you will see the current partion in the now much larger disk.
 9. Right click on the partion and select "Resize/Move".
 10. Resize the partion to fill entire remaining space and click "Resize/Move".
 11. Click "Apply" to run the resize task. After sometime depending on the size the task will complete.
12. Reboot the computer, remove the CD and boot into the OS.
 13. Depending on the OS it may perform a disk check like Windows Server 2003 here.
 14. You should now see the disk has been resized.
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