Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
146 VMware, Inc.
Shrinking a Virtual Disk
To!shrink!a!virtual!disk,!it!must!be!located!on!a!Microsoft!Windows!host.!Before!you!
can!shrink!the!virtual!disk,!make!sure!you!prepare!all!the!volumes!of!the!virtual!disk!
for!shrinking.!Then!use!the!following:
vmware-vdiskmanager -k myDisk.vmdk
Remember,!you!cannot!shrink!a!virtual!disk!if!you!preallocated!all!the!disk!
space!when!
you!created!the!virtual!disk.!You!cannot!shrink!a!physical!(raw)!disk.
You!cannot!shrink!a!virtual!disk!if!the!virtual!machine!has!a!snapshot.!To!keep!the!
virtual!disk!in!its!current!state,!remove!the!snapshot.!To!discard!changes!made!since!
you!took!the!snapshot,!revert!to!the!
snapshot.
Installing an Operating System onto a Physical Partition
In!some!situations,!you!might!want!to!install!a!guest!operating!system!directly!on!a!
physical!disk!or!partition—also!known!as!a!raw!disk—even!if!you!do!not!need!to!boot!
that!disk!on!the!host,!outside!of!the!virtual!machine.!
You!can!use!either!an!unused!partition!or!a!completely
!unused!disk!on!the!host!as!a!disk!
in!the!virtual!machine.!However,!it!is!important!to!be!aware!that!an!operating!system!
installed!in!this!setting!probably!cannot!boot!outside!of!the!virtual!machine,!even!
though!the!data!is!available!to!the!host.!
CAUTION You!cannot!use!a!physical!disk!that!is!stored!on!a!SAN.!You!must!use!a!
disk!or!a!partition!on!the!VMware!Server!host.!Physical!disks!are!an!
advanced!feature!and!should!be!configured!only!by!advanced!users.
VMware!Server!uses!description!files!to!control!access!to!each!physical!disk!on!the!
system.!These!description!files!contain!access!privilege!information!that!controls!a!
virtual!machine’s!access!to!certain!partitions!on!the!disks.!This!mechanism!prevents!
users!from!accidentally!running!
the!host!operating!system!again!as!a!guest!or!running!
a!guest!operating!system!that!the!virtual!machine!is!not!configured!to!use.!The!
description!file!also!prevents!accidental!writes!to!physical!disk!partitions!from!badly!
behaved!operating!systems!or!applications.!
Use!the!New!Virtual!Machine!Wizard!to!configure!a!virtual
!machine!to!use!existing!
physical!disk!partitions.!The!Wizard!guides!you!though!creating!a!new!virtual!
machine,!including!configuring!the!physical!disk!description!files.!Rerun!the!Wizard!to!
create!a!separate!configuration!for!each!guest!operating!system!installed!on!a!raw!
partition.!