virtualbox.org

How do I increase the VM hard disk space allocation, please?

You have to move your partition(s) to a larger VDI. See my tutorial All about VDIs for more info.

Many thanks, Terry, for your prompt and really comprehensive answer, which I really appreciate.

I was going to try increasing my disk space allocation to see if it would solve a particular problem, but on reflection it seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut, as I have used my VM very little yet. I'd be very grateful if you could tell me how to fix this problem, which is that I can't carry out updates within the VM (XP on OS X 10.5.6, with 1GB memory [4GB total] and 10GB disk space), e.g. AVGfree update attempt produces the following error message:

• <Update failed.
  General error - not enough free memory, write error.>

Similar messages appear if I try to to a Windows update.

Your help would be much appreciated, as a January post produced no response.
Kind regards.
Maurice

Maurice, sorry about the no-response in January. Anyway, to your problem. The easiest work-around is to add a second VDI to your XP VM. Don't forget to use My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management to format the drive and allocate partition letter(s). There is a Microsoft SysInternals tool to allow you to Symlink directories to the new partition. Also remember to clean up your old drive (%temp%, internet cache, old c:\windows\$NtUninstallKB* directories). Use My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Settings to move your pagefile to the new drive. Also make sure that you have XP hibernation disabled (you don't need this since you can savestate your VM instead). Then defrag the C drive and try again.

Thanks again, Terry, for your prompt and comprehensive reply. I'll try doing what you suggest, although I don't understand all the technical terms - yet! But I realise I need to learn about this new world of virtualisation.
Maurice

Terry:
Having added a second VDI (called Local Disk E:, E: being the first default partition letter available), do I not need to make the new partition the System partition (C:) eventually to solve my problem? If so, how?
Maurice

Making a VDI larger.
Cloning a VDI.
Cloning to enlarge a VDI.

Thanks, vbox4me2 (great alias!), for you prompt reply.
However, I need to replace/repair my first VDI (and enlarge it, too), as I can't write to it. Details are in my earlier posting.
Maurice

There are several linux live CD's that can do that repair for you. After that you can clone/enlarge it.