To run the VMware Virtual Disk Manager utility, open a command prompt or terminal on the host operating system. On a Windows host, change to the directory where you installed your Workstation software. By default, this directory is C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation.
The command syntax is:
vmware-vdiskmanager [options]
The options you can or must use include the following:
Options/Parameters
|
Description
|
---|---|
<diskname>
|
The name of the virtual disk file. The virtual disk file must have a .vmdk
extension.
You can specify a path to the folder where you want to store the disk files.
If you mapped a network share on your host operating system, you can
create the virtual disk on that share by providing the correct path
information with the disk file name.
|
-c
|
Creates the virtual disk. You must use the -a, -s and -t options, and you
must specify the name of the virtual disk (<diskname>).
|
-r
<sourcediskname>
|
Converts the specified virtual disk, creating a new virtual disk as a result.
You must use the -t option to specify the disk type to which the virtual
disk is converted and you must specify the name of the target virtual disk
(<targetdiskname>).
Once the conversion is completed and you have tested the converted
virtual disk to make sure it works as expected, you can delete the original
virtual disk file.
In order for the virtual machine to recognize the converted virtual disk,
you should use the virtual machine settings editor to remove the existing
virtual disk from the virtual machine, then add the converted disk to the
virtual machine. For information on adding virtual disks to a virtual
machine, see Adding Drives to a Virtual Machine.
|
-x <n>[GB|MB]
<diskname>
|
Expands the virtual disk to the specified capacity. You must specify the
new, larger size of the virtual disk in gigabytes or megabytes. You cannot
change the size of a physical (raw) disk.
Caution: Before running the virtual disk manager utility, you should back
up your virtual disk files.
|
-d <diskname>
|
Defragments the specified virtual disk. You can defragment only growable
virtual disks. You cannot defragment preallocated virtual disks.
|
-p <mountpoint>
|
Prepares a virtual disk for shrinking. If the virtual disk is partitioned into
volumes, each volume must be prepared separately. The volume (C: or D:,
for example) must be mounted by VMware DiskMount at
<mountpoint>. After you prepare the volume, unmount it with
VMware DiskMount. Continue mounting each volume of the virtual disk
and preparing it for shrinking until you complete this process for all the
volumes of the virtual disk.
You can mount only one volume of a virtual disk at a time with VMware
DiskMount. You can prepare volumes of virtual disks for shrinking on
Windows hosts only.
|
-k <diskname>
|
Shrinks the specified virtual disk. You can shrink only growable virtual
disks. You can shrink virtual disks on Windows hosts only.
You cannot shrink a virtual disk if the virtual machine has a snapshot. To
keep the virtual disk in its current state, simply remove the snapshot. To
discard changes made since you took the snapshot, revert to the
snapshot.
|
-a
[ide|buslogic|
lsilogic] |
Specifies the disk adapter type. You must specify an adapter type when
creating a new virtual disk. Choose one of the following types:
|
-s <n>[GB|MB]
|
Specifies the size of the virtual disk. Specify whether the size <n> is in GB
(gigabytes) or MB (megabytes). You must specify the size of a virtual disk
when you create it.
Even though you must specify the size of a virtual disk when you expand
it, you do not use the -s option.
|
-t [0|1|2|3]
|
You must specify the type of virtual disk when you create a new one or
reconfigure an existing one. Specify one of the following disk types:
0 - to create a growable virtual disk contained in a single virtual disk file
1 - to create a growable virtual disk split into 2GB files
2 - to create a preallocated virtual disk contained in a single virtual disk
file
3 - to create a preallocated virtual disk split into 2GB files
|
-q
|
Disables virtual disk manager logging.
If you keep logging enabled, messages generated by the virtual disk
manager are stored in a log file. The name and location of the log file
appear in the command prompt or terminal window after the virtual disk
manager command is run.
|
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