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StevenFlag for United States of America

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disk size increase for virtual machine, setting wont stay in place - esxi server 3.5

i have a virtual 2003 r2 server running on an esxi 3.5 server

using vmware infrastructure client 2.5

i need to increase disk space on the guest vm.  ive shut it down, opened settings of the vm and gave it an extra 30 gigs (that ARE available in the datastore)

when i start up the vm, the disk space is never increased and nothing is unallocated in disk management.  ive also noticed once i click OK after adjusting the settings to increase the space, if i reopen settings even without booting the vm, the disk is back to the original size.

the setting just isnt sticking - any ideas?
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e2p2

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I don't think that's entirely accurate "e2p2". You can change the disk size, but then you have to use diskpart to partition and make the newly added space usable.

"sknoll84"...when you add the space, can you log into the server and see 'unallocated space' in Disk Mgmt?

Regards,
~coolsport00
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no i cant see unallocated space in disk mgmt.  like i said, if i increase the space under settings and click ok - when i go back into settings the disk size is back where i started, as if the setting never sticks.
Does this VM have any snapshots associated with it?
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no
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e2p2

Ok so I was kinda wrong.  While the process that I outlined above will work, there is a possible alternative.  I just checked one of my ESX 3.5 servers.  I was able to simply increase the amount allocated to the HD.  It then immediately showed up as free space on the drive of one of my W2K3 servers.  What build is your ESX server, I am running the latest 207095?  It's possible that the problem you are experiencing could be related to a bug in a previous version.  
Do you back up your VM files/directory?...maybe like with VEEAM or some other solution? If so, these solutions create snapshots as part of their b/u or replication process. Sometimes (and this happened to me) those snapshots don't get removed and cause problems. I think you can use this link: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/205737 which provides suggestions on how to check if the VM has snapshots associated with via CLI.

This link: http://www.seandeasy.com/expanding-a-drive-within-a-vmware-image/ can assist with how to increase your disk if you do find a snapshot that's preventing the increase capability.

The last alternative is to do a 'export' of your VM (basically, a conversion) which the wizard provides the option to modify your disk size.

~coolsport00
True 'e2p2'...maybe there could be something wrong with whatever update he's using. "stoll..", can you try updating/patching your host to see if that resolves it, if what we've provided doesn't do the trick for you?

Regards,
~coolsport00