Resizing completely a Windows 7 virtual machine

[tirengarfio@gmail.com]

I have resized the hard disk for Windows 7 using: VBoxManage modifyhd "win7.vdi" --resize 50000

But when I go to Start > Computer > C: I still see a 25GB hard disk, what should I do?

[dlharper]

You now have a 50Gb (virtual) hard disk, but the VBoxManage command cannot change any of the contents. So you still have a 25Gb partition. The remaining 25Gb is unallocated space. Any changes you will have to deal with from within the guest.

In Windows 7 you can normally extend a partition quite easily (at least if you have a normal simple installation). Go to "Computer | Manage | Disk Management", right-click on the C: partition of Disk 0, select "Extend volume..." and go through the Wizard. (It is a little confusing - the figure you give is the amount you wish to extend by, not the total size.) Alternatively, you could create another partition in the unallocated space.

Note that earlier versions of Windows may not allow you to do this so easily.

[mpack]

Note that earlier versions of Windows may not allow you to do this so easily.

I think Vista allows it, but I know that XP doesn't allow you to resize the current boot partition. No problem: you just boot the same VM from a gparted live CD.

But Win7 should be quite easy.