WHERE IS vmware-vdiskmanager!?!?!???

[mekmek86]

I'm trying to resize my partition for my vm on my mac. I keep seeing people say to use vmware-vdiskmanager but I have no clue where this tool is, how to access it.....whether I go through the terminal on mac, copy it over to Windows and use cmd, or anything. Everything is really vague. If I am supposed to use terminal, what code do I use. If I'm supposed to use Windows, there's probably some exe file I need but I don't know where to get it......Can someone please explain? It someone could be a little more thorough it might help others unfamiliar with vmware products from looking through 20 threads of related problems with no true full solution.

Thanks

[admin]

The command-line program is at

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager[/code]

Running it without any arguments will give a summary of commands.

[mekmek86]

What do I do from there??

[mekmek86]

Yeah that actually did nothing also.......

[mekmek86]

Nevermind I got it, the code was

sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager -x 25Gb /Users/ /Documents/Virtual\ Machines/Test.vmwarevm/Test.vmdk

In my case it turned into:

sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager -x 15Gb /Users/Eric/Documents/Virtual\ Machines/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmwarevm/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmdk

Replacing Test with my virtual machine name and remembering to close and add the spaces in necessary spots.......It was hard to notice that there was a backslah and a spash after the slash, when writing the names/titles of the folders if they contained spaces........

I just found it really frustrating how they slipped the dialouge..."grow later" into the installation process like it would take no effort at all.....then included no instructions on how to do it. I had no idea how dificult it would be to figure out just how to make it larger.

[admin]

It was hard to notice that there was a backslah and a spash after the slash, when writing the names/titles of the folders if they contained spaces

You can use quotes:

'/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vdiskmanager' -x 15Gb "/Users/Eric/Documents/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Professional.vmwarevm/Windows XP Professional.vmdk"[/code]

Tab-complete also helps (type enough to be unambiguous, then press tab) since it insures that you won't have any typos. For example, you could have instead typed

/Lvmdk[/code]

You didn't need to use sudo, and you should check the permissions (e.g. via Get Info) on the vmdk to make sure you (as opposed to root) still own it.

I just found it really frustrating how they slipped the dialouge..."grow later" into the installation process like it would take no effort at all.....then included no instructions on how to do it. I had no idea how dificult it would be to figure out just how to make it larger.

You're right, this is difficult. However, the installation assistant refers to something else - normal users aren't ever expected to do this! The text refers to a dynamic (as opposed to preallocated) disk. Although you might specify a 17 GB disk, an empty dynamic disk will start off small (under 1 MB). As you add files to the virtual disk, the backing file will take up more space until it reaches the maximum, 17 GB.

Edited to add terminal comments -etung 2007.05.29 17:33

[mekmek86]

Well the "grow" supposedly completed but when I check the file........it's still the same size. Also now I can't even run the virtual machine......I get this message instead.

"This file is required to power on this virtual machine. If this file was moved, please provide its new location."

I browse to the location, even tried opening the VM from the documents folder itself. No luck. Now what? I guess I'm jus going to end up reinstalling the VM just sucks to go through all that trouble.

Thank you for those who've helped.....if anyone else has a suggestion on how to fix this message please let me know.

[admin]

Well the grow supposedly completed but when I check the file........it's still the same size

As I explained in the previous comment, if you're using a dynamic disk (which is the default), the file size is not the same as the virtual disk size. I'd expect the file size to remain the same.

I browse to the location, even tried opening the VM from the documents folder itself. No luck.

What's the exact file it's complaining about? What's the result of

ls -l /Users/Eric/Documents/Virtual\ Machines/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmwarevm/[/code]

and

cat /Users/Eric/Documents/Virtual\ Machines/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmwarevm/Windows\ XP\ Professional.vmx[/code]

guess I'm jus going to end up reinstalling the VM just sucks to go through all that trouble.

You're pretty close to resizing the disk, don't give up yet.

Edited to correct formatting -etung 2007.05.29 17:53

[Nathan Prziborowski]

If you ran vmware-vdiskmanager with the sudo command, it will change the owner of your disk files. In the future, you shouldn't run it with sudo.

For now, you should change the owner back to whichever user should own the file.

I use chown

to do it since I am more savvy with linux than Mac.

[Pat_Lee]

You can do a Get Info on the virtual disk and change the permissions back to you as the owner and this should solve your problem.

Pat

[Mophily]

You're right, this is difficult. However, the

installation assistant refers to something else -

normal users aren't ever expected to do this!

If by "do this" you mean to go through all these steps, I agree. If you mean normal users would never need to expand the disk allocation then, given the number of posts and views on this topic, I suggest whoever is in charge of this issue reconsider its omission. I hope the final version has an easy "just do it" feature.

For me, it is this issue and the inability to easily clone a base vm that argues heavily against continued use. The current arrangement is quite time consuming. That said, otherwise Fusion seems like a tremendous product.

FWIW, a version of the workstation product that runs on a Mac OS X host would dramatically improve my lot in life.

[admin]

You're right, this is difficult. However, the

installation assistant refers to something else -

normal users aren't ever expected to do this!

If by "do this" you mean to go through all these steps, I agree. If you mean normal users would never need to expand the disk allocation then, given the number of posts and views on this topic, I suggest whoever is in charge of this issue reconsider its omission. I hope the final version has an easy "just do it" feature.

I meant to go through all these steps (if you do it right there's only one step, and I think that for people comfortable with the command line, it's not hard). However, even if this process was an easy "just do it", how many normal users would then be able to resize the disk's partitions? How many cases actually require growing the original disk instead of adding another?

Anyway, to make sure your opinion is heard, file a support request[/url]. It can be hard to keep track of who wants what using just the forums.

it is this issue and the inability to easily clone a base vm that argues heavily against continued use

I haven't played around with Workstation's clone feature so I'm not really familiar with it; can you tell me about your workaround and why it's so time consuming?