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How can you resize a virtual hard disk in Hyper-V? - savas - 04-10-2020
Resizing a virtual hard disk in Hyper-V can be a nifty trick, especially when your VM is running out of space or you're trying to optimize storage. So, here’s the down-and-dirty on how you can do it without pulling your hair out.
First off, make sure your virtual machine is powered off. You can’t resize the disk while it’s running, and trust me, you don’t want to risk any data corruption. Once it's powered down, open up the Hyper-V Manager. Find your VM in the list—check, double-check it’s the right one so you’re not working on the wrong instance.
Now, you're going to want to locate the virtual hard disk file. Right-click on your VM, go to “Settings,” and then navigate over to the hard drive section. You’ll see the virtual disk that's attached to your VM. Click on it, and you should see an option to edit. That’s your ticket to resizing.
When you hit “Edit,” you’ll go through the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard. This is where you can choose what you want to do. If you’re looking to increase the size, you can select the option to expand the disk. Just type in the new size you want; keep in mind the current limits of your storage environment and the actual needs of your VM. Avoid making it ridiculously big unless you've got a concrete plan for the space.
After you’ve set the new size, the wizard will wrap things up for you. You’ll have a resized virtual hard disk, but keep in mind that just because you’ve increased the size doesn’t mean the OS inside the VM is aware of it yet. You’ll still need to extend the partition or volume using Disk Management once your VM is back up.
So, power on the VM and then log into the operating system. Open up the Disk Management utility—you can search for it in the Start menu. Here’s where the magic happens: you should see the new available space on your disk. Right-click the volume you want to extend and select the option to extend it. Follow the prompts that pop up to allocate the extra space you just made. It’s usually pretty straightforward, and in no time, you’ll have the additional space usable for your apps or data.
And that’s pretty much it! It might seem like a lot at first, but after doing it a couple of times, resizing those virtual hard disks becomes second nature. Just remember to keep an eye on those disk sizes, especially if you’re running multiple VMs; it can get a bit tricky not to run out of space if you’re not careful. Happy virtualizing!
I hope my post was useful. Are you new to Hyper-V and do you have a good Hyper-V backup solution? See my other post