Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 127
Chapter 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
for!shrinking.!This!allows!for!the!maximum!shrink!possible.!Wiping!takes!place!in!the!
guest!operating!system.
The!shrink!process!itself!is!the!second!step,!and!it!takes!place!outside!the!virtual!
machine.!VMware!Server!reduces!the!size!of!the!disk!based!on!the!disk!space!reclaimed!
by!the!wipe!process.!
This!step!occurs!after!the!wipe!finishes!preparing!the!disk!for!
shrinking.
When!a!virtual!machine!is!powered!on,!you!shrink!its!virtual!disks!from!the!VMware!
Tools!control!panel.!You!cannot!shrink!virtual!disks!if!a!snapshot!exists.!To!remove!an!
existing!snapshot,!choose!Snapshot!>!Remove!Snapshot.
In!a!
Linux!or!FreeBSD!guest!operating!system,!to!prepare!virtual!disks!for!shrinking,!
you!should!run!VMware!Tools!as!the!root!user.!This!way,!you!ensure!the!whole!virtual!
disk!is!shrunk.!If!you!shrink!disks!as!a!nonroot!user,!you!cannot!wipe!the!parts!of!the!
virtual!disk!that!require
!rootlevel!permissions.
1To!launch!the!control!panel!in!a!Windows!guest,!doubleclick!the!VMware!Tools!
icon!in!the!system!tray!or!choose!Start!>!Settings!>!Control!Panel,!and!doubleclick!
VMware!Tools.
To!launch!the!control!panel!in!a!Linux!or!FreeBSD!guest,!become!root!(su -),!
and!
run!vmware-toolbox.
2Click!the!Shrink!tab.
3 Select!the!virtual!disks!you!want!to!shrink,!then!click!Prepare!to!Shrink.
NOTE If!you!deselect!some!of!the!partitions!to!prepare!to!shrink,!the!entire!disk!
is!still!shrunk.!However,!those!partitions!are!not!prepared!for!shrinking,!
and!the!shrink!process!does!not!reduce!the!size!of!the!virtual!disk!as!much!
as!it!could!otherwise.
4When!VMware!Tools!finishes!preparing!the!selected!disk!partitions,!you!are!
prompted!to!begin!shrinking!the!disks.
Shrinking!disks!can!take!considerable!time.
In!some!configurations,!it!is!not!possible!to!shrink!virtual!disks.!The!Shrink!tab!
displays!information!explaining!why!you!cannot!shrink!your!virtual!disks.!For!
example,!you!cannot!shrink!a!virtual!disk!if:
! You!preallocated!disk!space!when!you!created!the!disk,!which!is!the!default!option!
for!both!typical!and!custom!virtual!machine!creation!paths.
! The!virtual!machine!has!a!snapshot.
! The!virtual!machine!contains!physical!(raw)!disks.