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createdAt: "2019-05-28T14:36:06.551Z"updatedAt: "2019-05-28T14:43:27.942Z"type: "MARKDOWN_NOTE"folder: "ba82be21b49821ef92ba"title: "Shrink a VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK)"tags: []content: '''# Shrink a VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK)Written by zikovirtualmanFebruary 24, 2016From My technical experience in VMware world, i have met a lot of customers which asking me to shrink the size of a .vmdk disk. Really…This is a mission critical task, but let us go through this procedure to show up how to do this.We will learn how to do it without VMware converter as when using VMware converter, you will consume a lot of time.I feel this is a little more advanced so“Before your start the following procedure, please ensure you have a valid and tested Full Backup of your virtual machine. This does not mean a VMware Snapshot.”In fact, increasing the size of a VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) is straightforward, and is supported in the vSphere Client, by selecting the virtual hard disk, and increasing the size using the up arrow. or typing in a new value.However, although there is a down arrow present, you cannot shrink the disk in this way, it’s not supported. The only supported method of shrinking a VMware virtual machine disk (VMDK) is to use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone and create a virtual to virtual (V2V) conversion, a similar process to a Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion.You can review this VMware KB :[VMware Knowledge Base](https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1002019)V2V Disadvantages- V2V Conversions can be slow.- You need to ensure, you have enough datastore storage space for the new virtual machine disk.- The virtual machine is converted, so there is a small risk, the conversion can cause issues with the converted virtual machine.- The converted machine can contain a different MAC address.- V2V are prone to failure.V2V Advantages- Support end-user method of re-sizing a virtual machine disk.- GUI Interface when using VMware vCenter Converter StandaloneAfter reading and understanding this article, you will be able to reduce the size of virtual machine disks in less than five minutes. I will let the reader decide if this is a faster method than the traditional practice of using a V2V, to change the size of a VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK). On occasion we come across an installation, where an Administrator has assigned a 2TB virtual disk, and does not have the space to create a V2V!The following procedure is split into two parts- Shrink the Operating System partition – This is covered in Step 1.- Shrink the VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) – This is covered in Step 2## 1. Login to the Virtual Machine and shrink the OS PartitionBefore we can shrink the VMware virtual machine disk (VMDK), we need to shrink the OS partition. (to avoid file system corruption). In this example I am using Windows 2008 R2, which has a shrink function.'''linesHighlighted: []isStarred: falseisTrashed: false