You can add storage space to a virtual machine by expanding its virtual hard disk.
When you expand a virtual hard disk, the added space is not
immediately available to the virtual machine. To make the added space
available, you must use a disk management tool to increase the size of
the existing partition on the virtual hard disk to match the expanded
size.
The disk management tool that you use depends on the virtual machine
guest operating system. Many operating systems, including Windows Vista,
Windows 7, and some versions of Linux, provide built-in disk management
tools that can resize partitions. Third-party disk management tools are
also available, such as Symantec/Norton PartitionMagic, EASEUS
Partition Master, Acronis Disk Director, and the open-source tool
GParted.
When you expand the size of a virtual hard disk, the sizes of partitions and file systems are not affected.
As an alternative to expanding a virtual hard disk, you can add a new
virtual hard disk to the virtual machine. See Add a New Virtual Hard
Disk to a Virtual Machine.
Prerequisites
■
Power off the virtual machine.
■
Verify that the virtual disk is not mapped or mounted. You cannot expand a virtual disk while it is mapped or mounted.
■
Verify that the virtual machine has no snapshots.
■
Verify that the virtual machine is not a linked clone or the parent of a linked clone.
Procedure
1
Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.
2
On the Hardware tab, select the virtual hard disk to expand.
3
Select Utilities > Expand.
4
Set the new maximum size for the virtual disk.
5
Select Expand.
6
Click OK after the disk expansion process is complete.
What to do next
Use a disk management tool to increase the disk partition size to match the expanded virtual disk size.
