virtualbox.org

I was running low on virtual space on my .vdi. I used VBoxManage modifyhd to increase the size by 9gb. VirtualBox Manager, Settings, shows the new larger Virtual size and the lower Actual size. The size is Dynamically Allocated Storage. I have no snapshots.

The Host is Mandriva Linux, Guest is Windows XP.

Booting the guest and checking Drive C: Properties shows the drive capacity to be the Actual size, not the maximum virtual size. Free space is based on the old virtual size and not the new virtual size. I need to install a program that is larger than the free space left on the virtual drive as it is shown on C: Properties. The program is 6.3gb and free space shows 4gb although it should be about 13 gb based on the new Virtual size. While the actual size may grow as required up to the new virtual size, the program will not install based on the insufficient free space.

Question is how to get the Drive C: Properties to show the free space up to the maximum of the dynamically allocated virtual space. Is there a way to fill all the unused space with zeroes, or something? The instructions don't address this problem.

My current VBox is version 4.1.12 updated from version 1 or 2 something over a period of years as upgrades were available.

Thanks

The easiest way would be to use Gparted to increase the primary partition.

You can use Windows diskpart but depending on your familiarity it might be easier to just use Gparted.
Attach the Gparted iso to the virtual cd/dvd and boot to it. The rest should make sense to you when it boots.

Ahhh, Ok. Thanks. I should be able to figure that out. Funny it's not mentioned in the VBox help.

Thanks very much. I already had a bootable CD with Gparted that I use on the Linux host. I set the VBox boot device to CD/DVD ROM in VBox Manager and started the virtual machine which booted into Gparted. I increased the partition size to include all of the un-allocated space and that was it. Very fast and painless.
Windows now shows all of the virtual space that is allotted.