VBOX V4 problem with modifyhd command

[kevthekelt]

Currently using vbox 4.0.0r69151 on ubuntu 10.04 LTS - Lucid Lynx Host with XP Pro SP3 guest.

When I try to enlarge the VDI with :-

sudo VBoxManage modifyhd /media/disk2/.VirtualBox/VDI/xppro.vdi --resize 30

I get the following :-

0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_NOT_SUPPORTED
VBoxManage: error: Resize hard disk operation for this format is not implemented yet!

Can anyone please help! I thought this was now a new feature. Is it only implemented for windows hosts?

[stefan.becker]

Have not checked this.

But there is an alternative: Use CloneVDI. On Linux Hosts it works with WINE.

[kevthekelt]

I've tried Clonevdi on ubuntu wine but it doesn't like the source pathname, so I mounted the drive on my current 10gb XP vdi and run clonevdi from there which appears to have worked. I will test and report back to this post.

[kevthekelt]

unfortunately didn't work, all went well with the clone process and the vdi attaches in VBOX ok, but errors when booting with 'no bootable medium'. Not sure if the compact did anything to the image, but will try again without and post results here.

[chrdou]

I don't know if your problem comes from that but I noticed that 30 is not a good parameter since unit is Megabytes.
So, for 30 Gigabytes, it should be :
sudo VBoxManage modifyhd /media/disk2/.VirtualBox/VDI/xppro.vdi --resize 30000

[aproposnix]

I don't know if your problem comes from that but I noticed that 30 is not a good parameter since unit is Megabytes.
So, for 30 Gigabytes, it should be :
sudo VBoxManage modifyhd /media/disk2/.VirtualBox/VDI/xppro.vdi --resize 30000

I'm having the exact same problem on an Ubuntu 10.10 host with WinXP guest. I was also trying to resize to 30gb. Tried this suggestion but had same result.

[ruidc]

same problem on windows 7x64 host, ubuntu 10.04 guest, dynamic VDI with snapshots. CloneVDI worked for me.

[mpack]

same problem on windows 7x64 host, ubuntu 10.04 guest, dynamic VDI with snapshots. CloneVDI worked for me.

Perhaps others in this thread should also clarify particular VDI format variants they happen to be using, mentioning snapshots if any, and of course, say if not using VDI at all.

[aproposnix]

Same here... dynamic size vdi with snapshot. But in my case host is Ubuntu 10.10 (x64) with XP guest.

[aproposnix]

So after reading the previous post regarding the type of VDI I investigated a little further. It seems that I used an existing machine (listed as a Normal VDI) when I created my current virtual (listed as a differencing VDI under the above mentioned normal VDI)). Could this be the issue?

My other question is, how do I merge the differencing VDI to the normal VDI so that I can have only 1 normal VDI (and no differencing children)?

Any help would be most appreciated.

[mpack]

I refuse to trust snapshots or any other form of differencing image, which also means that I don't have much experience of their operational details.

However, yes it would not surprise me that if you share a disk image between two VMs then VirtualBox might assume that you want to employ a differencing child image, ensuring that VM A cannot corrupt the drive contents of VM B.

How to merge, creating a stand alone VDI? Just clone the child image using "VBoxManage clonehd", the clone will be a merge of the child and parent(s) which you can build a new VM around. CloneVDI has in the past provided a simpler alternative for cloning snapshots, and can resize in the same step, but snapshot management changed in VBox v4 and CloneVDI hasn't yet been updated. It can still be done, but its no longer the simpler option.

[aproposnix]

Thanks for the useful info. I have never used "VBoxManage clonehd" so I'll try to give this a try this evening.

UPDATE: The cloning worked successfully. I now have a cloned normal VDI which I succesfully resized to 30gb. From there I created a new virtual using this VDI. Now the issue is, though in the virtual machine settings it shows a HDD with 30gb, when I log into the machine it still shows the previous value for space (15gb total w/ 6gb free). Do I actually have to resize the partition of the image? I would assume that if I resized (using modifyhd) it would use the full 30gb. Is this assumption wrong?

[mpack]

I would assume that if I resized (using modifyhd) it would use the full 30gb. Is this assumption wrong?

Yes, it's wrong. VirtualBox simulates hardware - it knows nothing about the guest OS's software frills such as partitions, NTFS, FAT, EXTx etc etc. Use a gparted live cd to adjust the guest partition size to whatever you want.