https://wiki.daveking.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Shrinking_VMware_Virtual_Disks Shrinking VMware Virtual Disks - Revision history 2026-04-26T18:44:10Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.34.0 https://wiki.daveking.com/index.php?title=Shrinking_VMware_Virtual_Disks&diff=4188&oldid=prev Dlk at 15:42, 31 December 2019 2019-12-31T15:42:55Z <p></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">Revision as of 15:42, 31 December 2019</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l36" >Line 36:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 36:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Locate and change to directory that contains the guest&#039;s VMDK file</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Locate and change to directory that contains the guest&#039;s VMDK file</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmkfstools --punchzero &#039;&#039;&lt;guest&gt;&#039;&#039;.vmdk</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmkfstools --punchzero &#039;&#039;&lt;guest&gt;&#039;&#039;.vmdk</div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Category:Linux]]</ins></div></td></tr> <!-- diff cache key mediawiki-nearline_:diff::1.12:old-3741:rev-4188 --> </table> Dlk https://wiki.daveking.com/index.php?title=Shrinking_VMware_Virtual_Disks&diff=3741&oldid=prev Dlk at 10:58, 13 September 2017 2017-09-13T10:58:42Z <p></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">Revision as of 10:58, 13 September 2017</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l11" >Line 11:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 11:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Open a terminal window</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Open a terminal window</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmware-toolbox-cmd disk list</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmware-toolbox-cmd disk list</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmware-<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">tool-box</del>-cmd disk shrink /</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmware-<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">toolbox</ins>-cmd disk shrink /</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ESXi:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ESXi:</div></td></tr> <!-- diff cache key mediawiki-nearline_:diff::1.12:old-3686:rev-3741 --> </table> Dlk https://wiki.daveking.com/index.php?title=Shrinking_VMware_Virtual_Disks&diff=3686&oldid=prev Dlk at 07:26, 17 September 2015 2015-09-17T07:26:03Z <p></p> <table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">Revision as of 07:26, 17 September 2015</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l14" >Line 14:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 14:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ESXi:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In ESXi:</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*For Linux guests:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*For Linux guests <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">using LVM volumes</ins>:<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&lt;br /&gt;The zerofree utility is much quicker than the old &quot;dd if=/dev/zero&quot; method and it does not expand the thin-provisioned volume to full size, but it requires that the partition be unmounted.</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Start </del>the guest system and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">login as </del>root <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">through the vSphere Client console window</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">**[http://www.sysresccd.org/Download Download the systemrescuecd.iso] and place it on one of the ESXi server&#039;s datastore volumes</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">dd if=</del>/dev/<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">zero of=</del>/<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">zero</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">bin bs=16M</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">**Remove any snapshots</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">sync</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Modify </ins>the guest system<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">&#039;s settings so that it boots from the ISO image</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">rm /zero.bin</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Change &quot;Boot Options&quot; to &quot;Force BIOS Setup&quot;</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Shutdown the guest <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">system</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Set the CD drive to &quot;Connected&quot; and </ins>and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">point it at the ISO image</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Restart the guest and, in boot settings, set it to boot from the CD ahead of the hard drive</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***&quot;Save and Exit&quot; to boot the guest into the systemrescuecd image</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">**Activate the LVM volume that contains the </ins>root <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">partition</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Activate all volume groups &lt;pre&gt;lvm vgchange -a y&lt;/pre&gt;</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***List all volumes and their volume groups &lt;pre&gt;lvm lvs --all&lt;/pre&gt;</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Zero out the root volume&lt;pre&gt;zerofree -v /dev/volume_group/volume&lt;/pre&gt;in my case that&#039;s&lt;pre&gt;zerofree -v </ins>/dev/<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">vg_ioc51prod/lv_root&lt;</ins>/<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">pre&gt;</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">**Shutdown the systemrescuecd guest system</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">**Modify the guest system&#039;s settings to restore the original boot settings</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Remove the systemrescuecd</ins>.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">iso as the CD device</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">***Change &quot;Boot Options&quot; to &quot;Force BIOS Setup&quot;</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">*Power on the guest and set it to boot from the hard drive ahead of the CD in boot settings</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">*&quot;Save and Exit&quot; to boot the guest to confirm that it still works </ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Shutdown the guest</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**SSH to the ESXi server</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**SSH to the ESXi server</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Locate and change to directory that contains the guest&#039;s VMDK file</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Locate and change to directory that contains the guest&#039;s VMDK file</div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmkfstools --punchzero &#039;&#039;&lt;guest&gt;&#039;&#039;.vmdk</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**vmkfstools --punchzero &#039;&#039;&lt;guest&gt;&#039;&#039;.vmdk</div></td></tr> <!-- diff cache key mediawiki-nearline_:diff::1.12:old-3685:rev-3686 --> </table> Dlk https://wiki.daveking.com/index.php?title=Shrinking_VMware_Virtual_Disks&diff=3685&oldid=prev Dlk: Created page with "The guest cannot have snapshots and it cannot be marked as a template from which clones are made. In VMware Workstation: *For Windows guests: **Start the guest system and log..." 2015-09-13T18:44:57Z <p>Created page with &quot;The guest cannot have snapshots and it cannot be marked as a template from which clones are made. In VMware Workstation: *For Windows guests: **Start the guest system and log...&quot;</p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>The guest cannot have snapshots and it cannot be marked as a template from which clones are made.<br /> <br /> In VMware Workstation:<br /> *For Windows guests:<br /> **Start the guest system and log in<br /> **Open a command prompt window in administrator mode<br /> **C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VMwareToolboxCmd.exe disk list<br /> **C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VMwareToolboxCmd.exe disk shrink C:\<br /> *For Linux guests:<br /> **Start the guest system and login as root<br /> **Open a terminal window<br /> **vmware-toolbox-cmd disk list<br /> **vmware-tool-box-cmd disk shrink /<br /> <br /> In ESXi:<br /> *For Linux guests:<br /> **Start the guest system and login as root through the vSphere Client console window<br /> **dd if=/dev/zero of=/zero.bin bs=16M<br /> **sync<br /> **rm /zero.bin<br /> **Shutdown the guest system<br /> **SSH to the ESXi server<br /> **Locate and change to directory that contains the guest&#039;s VMDK file<br /> **vmkfstools --punchzero &#039;&#039;&lt;guest&gt;&#039;&#039;.vmdk</div> Dlk