VMware Virtual Machine 17.5.0 Won't Start: Only Shows Black Screen After Disk Expansion

[VMware Community Member]

Hello everyone,

I've encountered an issue where my VMware virtual machine won't start after attempting to expand the disk capacity. Below, I'll detail the problem, the steps I've already tried to resolve it, and additional information I have gathered. I'm hoping to get some help from the community.

Host OS and version: Win10

 

Exact version of Workstation: 17.5.0 build-22583795

 

Problem Description:

• I planned to compress a file into a .tar.gz, which ended up being 11.5GB in size. Then, I wanted to track it using git lfs. However, when I executed the git add command, I received a message similar to "insufficient disk space remaining". So I Power Off the virtual machine instance and try to expand the virtual disk.
• After expanding the virtual disk from 70GB to 100GB, the virtual machine only displays a black screen and fails to boot further.
• I did not extend the file system (such as adjusting partition sizes with GParted) after the disk expansion.
• This is the Power On message.
• 

   

• After displaying the previous message, it continues to stay on this black screen.

  

   

   

   

Steps I've Tried:

1. I copied all .vmdk files to a new folder and attempted to boot a new virtual environment with these copied disk files, but the problem persists.(Black Screen)
2. I tried booting with an ISO image file, yet the machine still fails to boot.
3. All steps come from ChatGPT

Additional Verification:

In an effort to reproduce the error, I created a new virtual environment (referred to as: test_env), following the same steps as before while keeping all default options.

1. Installed using an ISO image file, personalized Linux, set the virtual machine name, chose to split the virtual disk into multiple files, and completed the setup.
2. Installed Ubuntu and shut down the virtual machine upon completion.
3. Expanded the virtual disk size of test_env to 100GB and attempted to restart test_env, which did not result in any issues.

 

 

Virtual Machine Settings:

• Memory: 4 GB
• Processors: 4
• Hard Disk (SCSI): 100 GB
• CD/DVD (SATA): ubuntu-20.04.6-desktop-amd64.iso
• Network Adapter: NAT
• USB Controller: Present
• Sound Card: Auto detect
• Display: 1 monitor
  
  

Note:

Apart from the virtual machine instance that cannot be started due to the virtual disk expansion, and the failed attempt to use its .vmdk as a virtual disk for another virtual machine instance, all other virtual machine instances are functioning normally.

 

 

I'm seeking help to determine the cause of the issue and to understand how to restore the startup of my virtual machine.

If you need any more information to diagnose the issue, please feel free to ask.

Thank you so much for any assistance!

[bluefirestorm]

As you mentioned that the VM virtual disk was running on low on space and the bootup also shows that

/dev/sda5: clean 788087/5210112 files, 19876421/20839680 blocks

That means it has less than 5% left available/free ( 19876421/20839680 >=95.378%).

Suggest you boot up the VM using GParted ISO and expand the virtual disk to have more than 5% free.