VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

Shrinking a virtual disk reclaims unused space in the virtual disk. If there is empty space in the disk, this process reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on the host drive. You cannot shrink raw or plain disks.

Shrinking virtual disks is a convenient way to convert a virtual disk to the new format supported by GSX Server 2. Virtual disks created in the new format cannot be recognized by earlier VMware products except for VMware Workstation 3.0 and later.

The virtual disks to be shrunk must be booted in persistent mode. You can change the mode of a virtual disk before the virtual machine is powered on. See Disk Modes: Persistent, Undoable and Nonpersistent. Shrinking requires free disk space on the host equal to the size of the virtual disk being shrunk.

Shrinking a disk is a two-step process: the first step, called wiping, is where VMware Tools reclaims all unused portions of disk partitions (such as deleted files) and prepares them 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. GSX 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 can shrink its virtual disks from the VMware Tools control panel.

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. Otherwise, if you shrink disks as a non-root user you cannot wipe the parts of the virtual disk that require root-level permissions.

1. To launch the control panel in a Windows guest, double-click the VMware Tools icon in the system tray or choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, then double-click VMware Tools.

   To launch the control panel in a Linux or FreeBSD guest, become root (su -, if you want to shrink parts of the disk restricted to root access), then run
   vmware-toolbox &

2. Click the Shrink tab.

3. Select the virtual disks you want to wipe, then click Prepare to Shrink.

   Note: If you deselect some of the partitions to wipe, the whole disk is still shrunk. However, those partitions are not prepared for shrinking, and the shrink does not reduce the size of the virtual disk as much as it could otherwise.

4. When VMware Tools finishes wiping the selected disk partitions, you are prompted to begin shrinking the disks.

Shrinking disks may take considerable time.