Reduce disk size of Windows virtual machine on Vmware Esxi 4.1?

Question

VMware

There is a virtual machine with Windows Server 2008 OS. Initially, more space was allocated for it than it actually takes up.

We need to allocate space for a new virtual machine, but disk storage space is in short supply. The option to take away a place from the above virtual machine would be very satisfying.

Need advice on whether this can be done and how.

Answer 1

I think this is exactly what you need. In a nutshell - use VMWare Standalone Converter

Answer 2

Maybe "vmkfstools convert thick disk to thin tested in vsphere 4.1"
communities.vmware.com/thread/296983?start=0&tstart=0

Answer 3

It all depends on the location on the host, if there is, you can create a second disk of the desired size and clone it, and kill
the old one.

Answer 4

Under ESXi, there is no built-in disk cutter.
The easiest option is to fill in the free space under the guest OS with zeros and cut it off using vmkfstools --punchzero diskname.vmdk, and the virtual machine will have to be turned off.