How to Increase Your VMware Virtual Disk Size Easily and Safely?

Question: I have Windows 2003 in VMware Server. The disk 0 is 20GB and all the disk space is allocated to C drive. The disk 1 is 40GB and only has a partition D which is dynamic volume. Now C drive is running out of space, how can I extend C drive?

Answer: To solve the problem, first we need to increase the size of virtual disk, and then extend C drive with server partition manager.

It is not easy for Windows users to increase VMware disk size because it is related to VMware virtual machine and the data security. So this article will introduce a step by step tutorial in the following paragraph.

How to increase VMware disk size?

Important Note:

- The instruction applies to VMware Server, Workstation and Player 3.x. If you are using VMware Player 2.x, upgrade to VMware Player 3.x.

- Confirm all the snapshots have been deleted.

- Ensure the virtual machine is powered off.

Step1: Open "Start" menu. Click "Run" and type "cmd" in the text box and then hit the "Enter" key.

Step2: In the pop-up "command prompt". Type or paste the following command:

"C:/Program Files/VMware/vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" –x 30GB "xx.vmdk"

Note: Replace 30Gb with the actual virtual disk size that you want. Replace "xx.vmdk" with the full path to the virtual machine's virtual disk.

After the step2, you will find your VMware virtual disk size has been increased. The add-on space will be displayed as unallocated and locate at the end of the virtual disk.

As the "WARNING" message mentioned above, to expand the size of the partitions, you must use third-party utility. As ALL-IN-ONE partition manager, Aomei Partition Assistant enables you to extend partition without losing data and extend NTFS system partition without reboot.

How to extend system partition (C drive) after increasing VMware disk size?

Tips: To follow the step by step instruction, please Free Download server partition software Aomei Partition Assistant Server Edition (3.2MB).

Step1: Launch Aomei Partition Server Edition.

Step2: Select C drive. Right click on C drive and choose "Resize".

In the pop-up window, drag the right handle rightwards to merge unallocated space. Then click "OK".

Step3: Click "Apply" on the toolbar and confirm the changes in the "Pending Operations" dialog box. Then click "Proceed".

Step4: After a few seconds, all of operations will be completed successfully.

If there is not only one partition, the unallocated space will be not behind C drive, you can move partition to exchange the location, or shrink the data partition and free up space. For more detailed information, please visit VMware Extend/Expand C Drive.