Can I increase size of virtual HD after setting it as FIXED?

[magentawave]

I set my virtual HD size at only 10.77 GB and selected FIXED SIZE STORAGE instead of Dynamic and now I realize that the HD needs to be larger.

Two questions please...

1) Can I increase the size of my virtual hard drive now even though I checked FIXED SIZE STORAGE? Or gawd help me, will I have to start all over with a brand new installation of VB and Win 7 and all the programs I already installed (aaargh!)?

2) Does whatever size I set the VB's virtual HD at subtract from the HD on my Mac? In other words, if I set my virtual HD size at 25 GB does that mean that 25 GB is instantly taken away from my Macs HD?

Thank you.

[Perryg]

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=50661

[magentawave]

Thanks but I'm lost with those instructions. Are there simple step-by-step instructions available and preferably in video?

[Perryg]

That's the best I have.

[magentawave]

Since I don't understand those instructions I have three more questions please...

1) Can I clone my current installation of Win 7 and change the HD to dynamic during the setup and then delete the first installation?

2) And if I can clone it, will all my Windows software be in the new clone just like they are in the first installation, or will I have to re-install all my Windows software in the new installation?

3) Does whatever size I set the VB's virtual HD at subtract from the HD on my Mac? In other words, if I set my virtual HD size at 25 GB does that mean that 25 GB is instantly taken away from my Macs HD?

Thank you.

[Perryg]

Since I don't understand those instructions I have three more questions please...
1) Can I clone my current installation of Win 7 and change the HD to dynamic during the setup and then delete the first installation?
2) And if I can clone it, will all my Windows software be in the new clone just like they are in the first installation, or will I have to re-install all my Windows software in the new installation?
3) Does whatever size I set the VB's virtual HD at subtract from the HD on my Mac? In other words, if I set my virtual HD size at 25 GB does that mean that 25 GB is instantly taken away from my Macs HD?
Thank you.

1 & 2) This is your only best way to fix this, and clone means exactly what it says. It will be a clone of the original.
3) if you choose dynamic the actual size of the HDD will not be the Max size you set it to until needed, but be warned. If you set the Max size to be more than you have free on the host drive you can have real problems if it fills up and you do not watch it.

You might want to read about Dons program CloneVDI Tool It will do everything that you need but it will require that you install wine as it is a Windows program. Other than that you would need to follow the second section of the tutorial I sent you.

[loukingjr]

Maybe I can help...
In the Finder, open the VMs folder, then the Windows 7 folder
1. Open the Terminal program in the Utilities folder.
2. Type: VBoxManage clonehd
3. add a space
if you haven't used any snapshots
4. drag the Windows7.vdi file into the terminal window
5. add a space
6. type a new name for the new .vdi
7. add a space
8. Type: --format VDI --variant Standard
9. Hit return
If you have used snaphots, drag the highest numbered snaphot.vdi file from the snaphots folder into the terminal instead of the Windows7.vdi
wait for it to finish

At this point you should resize the new .vdi
1. Type: VBoxManage modifyhd
2. add a space
3. drag the new .vdi file into the terminal window
4. add a space
5. Type: --resize 25600 (assumming you want a 25MB drive)
6.Hit Return

At this point if it was me, I would create a new Windows 7 machine using the same settings as the original, but instead of creating a drive, check do not add a drive. Then move the new .vdi file into the new VM folder. In VirtualBox, click storage and add the new .vdi file to the SATA controller by pressing the add/plus icon.

Now I would test the new VM to make sure it is working. Before you delete the old version you still need to expand the partition in the new VM to fill the new size of the drive. I have read here that you can do that inside Windows 7 but I've never done it so I can't help with that. Once you do that and test it again to make sure everything is fine, then you can go ahead and delete the original and remove it's files.

That's about as step by step as I can do.

Good Luck.

edit: I found this info to expand the new unallocated space while in your Windows 7 guest.

right click on my computer and select manage
Go to the disk management
Right click on the drive and click extend volume
Confirm the amount of extension. By default this will be the drives maximum.
Done

that was easy.

[magentawave]

Thank you for taking the time to do those instructions. Before I proceed with your first instructions I have questions about your edited instructions below.

1) Are you saying that your edited instructions below can be done instead of your much more involved instructions, or that is what I should do after doing the more involved steps first?

2) When I go to Disk Management and right click on the C Drive or the VBOXADDITIONS Drive "Extend Volume" is dimmed in both of them.

3) Again, regarding your edited instructions below, is it the C Drive or the VBOXADDITIONS Drive that I should have right clicked on to extend the volume?

edit: I found this info to expand the new unallocated space while in your Windows 7 guest.

right click on my computer and select manage
Go to the disk management
Right click on the drive and click extend volume
Confirm the amount of extension. By default this will be the drives maximum.
Done

that was easy.

[loukingjr]

it's the last thing to do after you do the first two steps. as I mentioned once you do the first two steps you have to expand the partition. I just added the last instructions because when I wrote the first two parts I wasn't sure how to do the last.

yes, the c: drive. it's greyed out because you haven't done the first two steps.

[magentawave]

I got some errors and need to start over so I have more questions please...

-QUESTION A: Is quitting the Terminal and restarting it all I need to do to clear out all the junk I did from before?


In the Finder, open the VMs folder, then the Windows 7 folder
1. Open the Terminal program in the Utilities folder.
2. Type: VBoxManage clonehd
3. add a space
if you haven't used any snapshots
4. drag the Windows7.vdi file into the terminal window
5. add a space

6. type a new name for the new .vdi

-After doing step #4, which was to drag the .vdi file into the Terminal, this Windows 7.vdi became this in the Terminal: /Users/MBP17/VirtualBox\ VMs/Windows\ 7/Windows\ 7.vdi

-QUESTION B: What part of this /Users/MBP17/VirtualBox\ VMs/Windows\ 7/Windows\ 7.vdi should I type in to the Terminal to give it a new name? Please give me an example of what it should look like.


7. add a space
8. Type: --format VDI --variant Standard
9. Hit return
If you have used snaphots, drag the highest numbered snaphot.vdi file from the snaphots folder into the terminal instead of the Windows7.vdi
wait for it to finish

At this point you should resize the new .vdi

-QUESTION C:Should the newly created and with a different name .vdi file appear in the same Windows 7 folder that the first Windows 7.vdi file was in?

1. Type: VBoxManage modifyhd

-QUESTION D: Should I type VBoxManage modifyhd into the same Terminal window that has all the other stuff I just did in the Terminal or should I clear the Terminal before proceeding with resizing the new .vdi?

2. add a space
3. drag the new .vdi file into the terminal window
4. add a space
5. Type: --resize 25600 (assumming you want a 25MB drive)
6.Hit Return

Thanks again

[loukingjr]

A. you can just click the Terminal window closed and in the Shell menu choose New Window.
B. You can use any name you like, you can call it Bob.vdi if you like. it has nothing to do with what is listed before it.
C. Unless you cd to the folder it's in or type the complete path it will appear in your users folder. if you don't know where that is just do a search for it in the finder.
D. You can do it in the same window or a different window. doesn't matter.

edit: before you ask , if you want it to appear in the same folder as the original, in a Terminal window, type cd then drag the folder the original Windows 7.vdi was in, into the terminal window and hit return.

[magentawave]

Two more things please...

1) In VBox Settings storage when I try to add the new .vdi file to the SATA Controller I get the following error message. (Image below) BTW: I named the folder that the new .vdi file goes in with the exact same name as the new .vdi file and I still got the same error message.

Failed to open the hard disk file /Users/MBP17/VirtualBox VMs/_Windows 7/NEWWindow7.vdi.

Cannot register the hard disk '/Users/MBP17/VirtualBox VMs/_Windows 7/NEWWindow7.vdi' {3acd0f6b-b16c-4d83-9ef7-7ad26f5109f9} because a hard disk '/Users/MBP17/NEWWindow7.vdi' with UUID {3acd0f6b-b16c-4d83-9ef7-7ad26f5109f9} already exists.

Result Code: NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057)
Component: VirtualBox
Interface: IVirtualBox {fafa4e17-1ee2-4905-a10e-fe7c18bf5554}
Callee RC: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

2) And also in the VBox Settings storage where below the "Controller: IDE is the image of a disk below that is "Empty" instead of "VBoxGuestAdditions.iso" like in the previous installation. I don't fully recall now the order of what I did in the first installation but do I add the Guest Addition later?

Capture5.JPG (67.51 KiB) Viewed 10583 times

[loukingjr]

well first you shouldn't have renamed the folder. btw the name in VirtualBox is -Windows 7 but you named the folder _Windows 7. I never said rename the folder. Why do you have two copies of NEWWindow7.vdi?

[magentawave]

1) You said here to create a "new folder" to put the new .vdi file in: "At this point if it was me, I would create a new Windows 7 machine using the same settings as the original, but instead of creating a drive, check do not add a drive. Then move the new .vdi file into the new VM folder. In VirtualBox, click storage and add the new .vdi file to the SATA controller by pressing the add/plus icon."

Then you said: "B. You can use any name you like, you can call it Bob.vdi if you like. it has nothing to do with what is listed before it."[/b]

And you said: "6. type a new name for the new .vdi "


2) I named the folder when creating it in VBox with a hypen like this "-Windows 7" to differentiate it from the original "Windows 7" folder but Vbox's default automatically changed the hyphen to an underscore like this "_Windows 7". If I try to give the new installation the same name as Windows 7 it will tell me "Windows 7" already exists. After seeing your latest reply I moved the original Windows 7 folder outside of the VirtualBox VMs folder so I could create a new VBox with the same name as the first (Windows 7) and I still got the same error message when trying to add the new .vdi to the SATA.


3) I searched and there is only one copy of "NEWWindows7.vdi" on my computer. Where are you seeing two?


What am I missing here?

well first you shouldn't have renamed the folder. btw the name in VirtualBox is -Windows 7 but you named the folder _Windows 7. I never said rename the folder. Why do you have two copies of NEWWindow7.vdi?

[loukingjr]

I never said create a new folder. I said create a new machine. a folder is create automatically when you create a new machine. as far as where the two copies are, one is in /Users/MBP17/VirtualBox VMs/_Windows 7/NEWWindow7.vdi and the other is in /Users/MBP17/NEWWindow 7.vdi. Which is what the error message says. At any rate with VirtualBox open, choose Virtual Media Manager and see how many .vdi files are listed.