
Expanding the C Drive of a Virtual Windows System
VMWare Server is a great way to run virtual systems at home for free. While it includes a way to expand a given disk (ex. expand a virtual hard drive from 50GB to 100GB), it does not include a way to expand a Windows volume (ex. expand a 50GB C: drive to use the additional, free 50GB on the newly expanded 100GB virtual hard drive). This post will show you how to expand a VMWare virtual disk and also expand the Windows partition.
Note: These instructions were tested on a Windows 2003 Server virtual machine.
- Expand the virtual disk
- Turn off the virtual machine
- Commit/remove all the snapshots first!
- Open a Command Prompt and go to:
C:\Program Files\VMWare\VMWare Server or C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation - Run this command to expand the virtual disk:
1vmware- vdiskmanager -x 100GB "C:PathToYourVirtualHardDisk.vmdk
- Expand the Windows Partition
- Download the latest ISO of the GParted Live CD:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php - Mount the ISO in the VM and start the VM
- Follow the prompts until the GUI loads
- Right click on the desired partition and choose Expand/Resize
- Resize as desired
- Cick the Apply button when ready
- Restart the VM
- Download the latest ISO of the GParted Live CD: