How to: Extend VMDK in VMware Workstation

Today I was testing in my virtual test environment. On one server the system partition was out of space, so I had to extend the VMDK file, so there’ll  be some more space available.

With the following steps, you can extend your VMDK file.

– Open the commandline (Start, Run, CMD)
– Browe to the vmware-vdiskmanager.exe
– Give the new size of the VMDK file with the parameter -x
– Browse to the VMDK file you want to extend

So, for example, the full command would be:
C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x 40Gb D:\VM\INPLACEUPGRADE\INPLACEUPGRADE.vmdk
(Note: after the parameter X, give the total new size
of the VMDK file. So when your VMDK was 10 Gb, you want to extend with 30 Gb, you type in 40 Gb)

The next step is to make the system partition bigger. I’ll use Gparted Live. Mount the ISO, boot from it, and within three steps the partition grown to 40 Gb.

       

       

The steps above can also be used in VMware ESX Server.

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