dang it! how to extend the c drive! (VM machine)

[chazzy2501]

I don't know why 2012 me chose to do this to myself but help me extend the 20GB c drive so I can update my WDS server!

 

 

I can't extend it, the option is greyed out.. I gave the VM more dirve space and I can extend the e drive..

[Davit2005]

Have you tried Rescanning the disks from Disk Management. I've seen that work a few times.

[chazzy2501]

Have you tried Rescanning the disks from Disk Management. I've seen that work a few times.

 

Dang, nope didn't work.

[tg12]

I think the issue here is that the free space needs to be alongside the C:\ partition to grow. Somehow you'd need to move the other partition to the end of the disk to give the space to C:\. Probably a tool like GParted would be useful here.

[Jaan]

Something like this should work:

 

https://www.paragon-software.com/free/pm-express/

[PotNoodleTech]

With the standard windows tools, diskpart etc - you can not extend a partition if it has another partition on same logical drive i.e. your E drive.

 

You would need to use some third party software for that partitionmagic or something (no idea if that even exists).

 

Thats why I only allow one partition per logical drive as you can always extend them in the future. If I need a D or E drive I create a new disk in HyperV etc and then create one single partition on that disk. (rather than using the free space on an existing virtual drive).

[nwkeene]

From the screen shot it looks like the OS is seeing only 'one' virtual drive, provided by your host and contains both your C and E Drives. I don't think you will be able to extend your C drive until the E drive gets moved, to give the C drive space to expand.

Two options i can see... Copy the files from the E drive and then delete it, then expand the C drive, recreate the E drive and copy the files back. Might not be so easy if the WDS has 'marked' some special folders.

The other option is to create another HD for the virtual machine and use it for the E drive, then remove it from the 1st 'hard drive' and expand the C drive.

 

my 2p

 

edit: PotNoodleTech beat me to it...

Edited September 26, 2023 by nwkeene
another post beat me to it...

[Davit2005]

What is the server used for. I'd suggest creating another virtual disk file and moving the E drive off to it instead. Back in the pre virtual days yep might of been a need to have this sort of setup but it is far easier to have separate Virtual disk files.

[altecsole]

You can use Gparted to move the partition - https://gparted.org/download.php

[chazzy2501]

thanks, I think I'll make a new wds server and bring across my images. probably the same effort at this point :0

[LukeRowberry]

At least you can get it on server 2022 then

[nicholab]

Diskpart on the command line should enable you to extend the logical disk size after you have expanded the virtual disk.

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart

[Fazza]

What I would do is locate the file location of the virtual hard disk drive and make a copy of it. Add it to the VM as a 2nd drive, power up the VM and remove the drive letter E from the volume of the 1st hard disk, you can then change/add the letter E: to the copied drive and then you can delete the old volume on the first disk and expand it all the way to the moon! You can then tidy up the 2nd volume by removing the duplicate windows volume etc.

[MrEprise]

The free features* in EaseUS Partition Master will let you move and resize, and I've done this myself on a couple of VMs in the past.

 

 

*Meaning you can only do one change at a time rather than queueing all the changes at once.

[DavonPotter]

For your current issue, you'll need to extend the C: drive, but first, make sure there's unallocated space right next to it. Sometimes, it might require moving partitions around. You can use a tool like GParted or a third-party partition manager to help with that.

[brianhig]

you can’t extend 😄 because the unallocated space isn’t adjacent to it. windows only lets you extend into contiguous free space. since E: is between 😄 and the unallocated block, you’ll need to either delete or move E: first. easiest fix is to use a partition tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard or GParted to move that E: volume to the end of the disk, then extend C:.
if this is a VM, you could also clone 😄 to a new larger virtual disk and swap it in, which is usually safer if it’s production.