Resizing Virtualbox Fixed-Size VDI Disks

As of writing (2017-04-06), there is no native tooling to resize a fixed-size VDI. Those on the internet saying they can resize one are misinformed. You will get this error message:

Progress state: VBOX_E_NOT_SUPPORTED
VBoxManage.exe: error: Resize medium operation for this format is not implemented yet!

To “resize” a fixed-size VDI, it must be cloned to a larger sized VDI.

Step 1 – Create the larger VDI and move data:

Method 1 – Using VBoxManage:

VBoxManage clonehd [old-VDI] [new-VDI] --variant Standard
VBoxManage modifyhd [VDI] --resize [megabytes]
VBoxManage clonehd [new-VDI] [newnew-VDI] --variant Fixed

Disadvantage of this method is you need to make two additional full copies of the disk.

Method 2 – Using Clonezilla:

  1. Create and attach a new, larger fixed-size VDI using the VirtualBox interface.
  2. Attach and boot with a Clonezilla ISO.
  3. Use Device-to-device setting to clone the drive. Remember to press F12 on boot to select CD-ROM.

Step 2 – Expand the underlying partitions:

  1. De-attach Clonezilla ISO and attach GParted ISO.
  2. Boot similarly and resize/move partitions as needed.
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2 Responses to Resizing Virtualbox Fixed-Size VDI Disks

  1. Yf NADIR says:

    Hi davychiu,
    The Method 1 work perfectly
    Thank you very much

  2. FeistyFerret88 says:

    Thank you so much! This worked perfectly 😀

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