Re: How to shrink a pre-allocated vmdk?

Hi Eugene,

Thanks for responding.

If only that was true. I ain't no VM guy but I usually think before I ask, so unfortunately, I am using the most recent version:

The SHA-1 footprint for the image I use:  E8888242B4CC0F0B98C1203490DBF44899453518

It's the recent one avalable on your web site. Any clue?

Currently I blame Linux that messed up with <CR><LF> of the VMDK responsible for disk layout; when I looked at the VMDK with layout info using Notepad, I noticed all configuration options were going in-line, obviosly that's the result of VMDK's originating OS which, as I suppose, was Linux. I should pass the layout VMDK and NOT the data disk, the -flat.vmdk one, correct? Anyways, I've tried passing the *-flat.vmdk with the same result.

I ended up with using Virtual Disk Manager:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -d "F:\
VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit.vmdk"
Defragmentation completed successfully.

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "F:\
VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit.vmdk" -t 0 "F:\VM\CentOS 6.3
x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-Growable.vmdk"
Creating disk 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-Growable.v
mdk'
  Convert: 100% done.
Virtual disk conversion successful.

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -k "F:\
VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-Growable.vmdk"
  Shrink: 100% done.
Shrink completed successfully.

What I noticed is that you MUST use the vmware-vdiskmanager.exe bundled with the VMware Workstation; I downloaded the recent Virtual Disk Development Kit from there and that did NOT work. Instead, that Virtual Disk Manager shipped with SDK was giving me plenty of errors like

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin>vmware-vdi
skmanager.exe /d "F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-flat.vm
dk"
Failed to analyze snapshot chain 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6
.3-64bit.vmx'.
Will not be able to make an informed decision based on partial information.

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin>vmware-vdi
skmanager.exe /d "F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit.vmdk"
Failed to analyze snapshot chain 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6
.3-64bit.vmx'.
Will not be able to make an informed decision based on partial information.

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin>vmware-vdi
skmanager.exe -k "F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-flat.vm
dk"
Failed to open the disk 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit-
flat.vmdk' : The file specified is not a virtual disk (0xf00003ebf).
Failed to shrink the disk 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bi
t-flat.vmdk' : The file specified is not a virtual disk (0xf00003ebf).

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin>vmware-vdi
kmanager.exe -k "F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit.vmdk"
ailed to open the disk 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bit.
mdk' : Disk encoding error (0x3d00003ebd).
ailed to shrink the disk 'F:\VM\CentOS 6.3 x64\CentOS-6.3-64bit\CentOS-6.3-64bi
.vmdk' : Disk encoding error (0x3d00003ebd).

Once I've tried the Virtual Disk Manager tool that's located under VMware Workstation's program folder, it worked fine. Go figure! Poor job, VMware... They could've prepared more legible error messages, they could've tested the input VMDK and notify that the file is incompatible with the Virtual Disk Manager I use.