Specifications

12 Use the guest operating system tools to partition and format the new drive.
Add an Existing Virtual Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine
You can reconnect an existing virtual hard disk that was removed from a virtual machine.
Procedure
1 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.
2 On the Hardware tab, click Add.
3 In the Add Hardware wizard, select Hard Disk.
4 Select Use an existing virtual disk.
5 Specify the path name and filename for the existing disk file.
6 Click Finish to add the existing virtual hard disk.
7 Click OK to save your changes.
Compact a Virtual Hard Disk
Compacting a virtual hard disk reclaims unused space in the virtual disk. If a disk has empty space, this
process reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on the host drive.
Prerequisites
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Power off the virtual machine.
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Verify that the virtual disk is not mapped or mounted. You cannot compact a virtual disk while it is
mapped or mounted.
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Verify that the disk space is not preallocated for the virtual hard disk. If the disk space was
preallocated, you cannot compact the disk.
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If the virtual hard disk is an independent disk, verify that it is in persistent mode.
Procedure
1 Select the virtual machine and select Player > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.
2 On the Hardware tab, select the virtual hard disk to compact.
3 Select Utilities > Compact.
4 Click OK after the disk compacting process is complete.
Expand a Virtual Hard Disk
You can add storage space to a virtual machine by expanding its virtual hard disk.
When you expand a virtual hard disk, the added space is not immediately available to the virtual machine.
To make the added space available, you must use a disk management tool to increase the size of the existing
partition on the virtual hard disk to match the expanded size.
The disk management tool that you use depends on the virtual machine guest operating system. Many
operating systems, including Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 and some versions of Linux,
provide built-in disk management tools that can resize partitions. Third-party disk management tools are
also available, such as EASEUS Partition Master, Acronis Disk Director, and the open-source tool GParted.
When you expand the size of a virtual hard disk, the sizes of partitions and file systems are not affected.
As an alternative to expanding a virtual hard disk, you can add a new virtual hard disk to the virtual
machine. See “Add a New Virtual Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine,” on page 82.
Getting Started with VMware Player
84 VMware, Inc.