Vista - VMtoolkit VHD Resizer

I just tried the potentially very useful VHD Resize app. v1.0.42.0

It appeared to create a perfect copy of a Win311 VHD, increasing the
size from 200 to 300Mb.

When I ran it, it fell over with a "Missing Operating System" error on
initial boot up.

Glad I created a copy first.

Incidentally I wasn't able to update the VHD in situ. It went through in
a flash and reported a successful outcome, but on bootup the disk size
was still 200Mb.
regards

On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 12:22:09 +1000, Julian Cann
<julianNOSPAMcann@xxxxxx> wrote:
I believe that the VHD Resizer works like this:
1) Create a blank VHD file set to a bigger size
2) Copy all the data from teh source disk partition to the target
3) Now you have a bigger drive but with a same-size partition as on
the source drive plus extra non-used empty space.

The next step is to get a different tool and use it to change the
partition to use the complete space of the new drive.
Not really a resizer in my book.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:29:46 +0200, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx>
wrote:
Same here. Had to kill VPC2007 to recover, but after I started VPC2007
again the guest bootup recommenced and it started. See below.
No need, VHDResizer makes a *copy* of your original drive with the new
bigger size. So you must then make sure to use the *copied* VHD file
in your guest. Did you do that?
Just to make sure I tested VHDResizer 1.0.42 on a Win2000 4G VHD drive
and set the copy to 8G. The results are:

1) The expanded VHD is a *copy* of the original.
2) A new guest based on this VHD will not start! :-(
3) After *killing* VPC2007 and then starting VPC2007 again the new
guest starts automatically and this time it boots OK. (go figure)
4) Inside the guest the diskmanager reports the same 4G C: partition
size as before, but now with an extra 4G "unused space".

So the bottom line is that now one needs yet another tool to adjust
the partition size of the new VHD disk so it expands (without data
loss) the single partition to use the full drive capacity.

I don't see why the VHDResizer cannot also adjust the partition size
given that it *knows* the format of a VHD disk. *That* would make it a
useful tool indeed.
Also it should at the end switch the file names so that the original
disk becomes name.bak and the new disk name.vhd. This way the guest
will be able to start up again with less hassle.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

If your using a Win2K or Win2K3 VM you can use diskpart to expand the disk
to include the free space. If the disk is the boot drive however it won't
work however. One work around would be to present it to the VM as a second
drive first and then expand it. I've used it with great results in both
Win2K and Win2K3. It's installed by default on Win2K3, and you can download
it for Win2K from Microsoft.

Here's some links to how to use the tool:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

Download for Win2K here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en



"Bo Berglund" <boberglund@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:qmm444tgk2ihb1kobp6eu8uhbt7m4ngq06@xxxxxx

Hi,

You can also use BootIt NG (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com) for this:

- Download BootIt NG (BING)
- Create a BING floppy
- Boot your VPC guest to the BING floppy
- Go into Maintenance mode
- Use the "Resize" option to resize the partition
- Release the floppy, then reboot the VPC guest to your resized partition!

Jim



Tim Walsh wrote:

In article <qmm444tgk2ihb1kobp6eu8uhbt7m4ngq06@xxxxxx>,
boberglund@xxxxxx says...VHDresizer created a new VHD with a new name. I redirected the settings
to the new VHD and the guest fell over with the "Missing Operating
System". OK so I closed VPC down and ran it again and it did the same
thing. I'm not sure what to make of it, to be honest.
regards
--
....
Jules
Brisbane, Australia

>> Just to make sure I tested VHDResizer 1.0.42 on a Win2000 4G VHD driveSeems like this can go even worse than my experience...
The other "normal" way is to create the new VHD with VPC2007 disk
wizard, then in the guest settings (with it shut down completely) add
the new disk as drive 2.
Then boot up the guest again and use an imaging software of some kind
(Ghost, Acronis) inside the guest to clone the system disk to the new
empty one.
Incidentally, this does not involve any hardware changes so it is a
run-of-the-mill disk migration inside a PC and the Acronis 15 day eval
version will do the job.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)