[Solved] Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
Locked
RossW
Posts: 36
Joined: 14. Aug 2015, 03:14

[Solved] Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by RossW »

I was running out of space on my C: drive on my Windows 7 guest, so I resized the VM using:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage modifymedium ~/Windows7.vdi --resizebyte 68719476736
This worked - It got to 100% with no errors and it shows the right size:

Code: Select all

UUID:           ec1bae22-7e99-4b87-a25d-2b3840be3d8b
Parent UUID:    base
State:          locked read
Type:           normal (base)
Location:       /Users/rwaddell/VirtualBox VMs/Windows 7 (MacBook)/Windows 7 (MacBook).vdi
Storage format: VDI
Format variant: dynamic default
Capacity:       65536 MBytes
Size on disk:   51057 MBytes
Encryption:     disabled
In use by VMs:  Windows 7 (MacBook) (UUID: 9f261e8a-574e-4d6b-a03b-ee8c41f90dac) [Prior to installing WF 2017 (UUID: 2ddad45b-ed7d-4de1-a3be-4cd82ca2dc9c)]
Child UUIDs:    543ac9fa-3abb-46f2-ab9e-59b5f76f4d39
But when I start up my Windows 7 guest I cannot see the unallocated disk space in Disk Manager. What am I missing?

I'm using Oracle VBox v5.0.32 r112930, and I took a snapshot of the VM prior to changing the VM size. Are snapshots the problem? Do I need to clone it or delete the snapshots?
Last edited by socratis on 17. Apr 2017, 10:02, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Marked as [Solved].
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by mpack »

It's all in the FAQ: How to resize a Virtual Drive.
RossW
Posts: 36
Joined: 14. Aug 2015, 03:14

Re: Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by RossW »

Thanks mpack. I had read that thread but the starting post seemed old, as I'm pretty sure I should be able to use Windows 7 Disk Manager to extend the primary volume once I can see the unallocated space. And then I wasn't sure if your latest posts were clear on what approach I should take - delete my snapshots or clone? I've already increased the size to 64GB.

EDIT
Got it to work by cloning my VM (Current State, **NOT** Everything) and then re-sizing that. I had to restart Windows 7 a few times before Disk Manager saw the unallocated space, but I was able to extend my primary partition to include the unallocated space.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by socratis »

RossW wrote:I'm using Oracle VBox v5.0.32 r112930, and I took a snapshot of the VM prior to changing the VM size. Are snapshots the problem?
RossW wrote:Got it to work by cloning my VM (Current State, **NOT** Everything) and then re-sizing that.
And from the FAQ: What if my VM uses Snapshots?
You can also use the "clone VM, then enlarge" trick from the previous post.
Marked as [Solved].
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
alberto.villar
Posts: 3
Joined: 14. Dec 2019, 10:38

Re: [Solved] Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by alberto.villar »

Hello,

I had similar problems wins an Ubuntu host and Windows 10 guest. The original VM had 30 GB drive and I did an extension to 50 GB. Windows was running out of space but "diskpart" was showing 30 GB and no free space. I had no snapshots and the guest was a recent clone

Restarting the guest did not get me the 20 GB free space. The solution, in my case, was powering the machine off and then on. "diskpart" was then able to see the extra 20 GB and I could extend the partition.

Regards, Alberto
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: [Solved] Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space

Post by socratis »

Alberto,
You resurrected three different threads with the same copy/paste message:
  1. 2016-10-25: Windows doesn't see enlarged virtual disk
  2. 2017-04-16: [Solved] Windows & Cannot See Unallocated Disk Space
  3. 2017-09-22: [Solved] Incorrect free space
The solution that you provided is already in the FAQ and the threads have been locked, we don't want to keep "zombies" around...

By the way, keep in mind that according to the The Forum Posting Guide, duplicate posts are not allowed.

I kind of have to break that rule myself, just to justify why the threads have been locked.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Locked