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Server

Cannot extend VMware HDD because of snapshots that I cannot delete

nop

2/4/23, 5:19 PM

There is a virtual machine located at a machine, which I access through VMware vSphere Client.

it has only 200 GB HDD which is quite a bit.
it's connected to a domain and a lot of users are using it with domain accounts.
it has old snapshots, because of licenses, which I cannot delete.

The issue is how do I extend that C: drive from 200 GB to something bigger by knowing that I cannot remove all these snapshots?

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vmware-vsphere

Chopper3

2/5/23, 8:59 AM

This is an unsustainable and frankly unprofessional way to use snapshots - they're only supposed to 'live' for 72 hours or so, you're pretty much guarunteed corruption if you can on with the same snapshots for months/years - I've seen it myself. Also using this mechanism to avoid licence spend (which is what I think you're doing - forgive me if I've read that incorrectly) is unprofessional and disrespectful. This site is for professional sysadmins and system designers, please re-read the help pages before posting again.

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Server

joeqwerty

2/4/23, 7:55 PM

I'm not quite understanding the conundrum. If you delete the snapshots they will all be merged into the parent disk and all of the changes in the snapshots will be preserved. Why is this not a solution?

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nop

2/4/23, 8:43 PM

The snapshot should be restored each X days, because the license has expired. I can try restoring to the latest snapshot and then deleting all of them and extended the HDD, but I need a backup, in case it goes side ways. How do I do that? The virtual machine is hosted on a server, I can't just go there and copy/paste all files I think.

Karsten Köpnick

2/4/23, 9:00 PM

@nod: Still not seeing clear here. What would happen if you revert to old snapshot as if X days were over, delete remaining snapshots, increase disk, make a new snapshot? Maybe throw in a backup, while you are at it?

joeqwerty

2/4/23, 11:24 PM

@nop It sounds like you're in this situation because you don't want tp pay for new licenses and are using this "roll back" method of yours to avoid paying for new licenses. If that's the case, you won't get help with that here.

nop

2/5/23, 5:50 AM

@joeqwerty, no, in fact it's an institution and all licenses are valid. The problem is that it is running Windows Server 2008 R2. You can't renew them. It's just too old. The other problem is that it cannot be updated because the Samba is way too old as well.

nop

2/5/23, 7:08 AM

https://i.imgur.com/sfkDxrh.png. Actually, I'm not sure why my boss told me that he didn't want to lose the licenses. It seems like I misunderstood something and it has already been activated. I believe he meant the licenses for Remote Desktop connection.

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Server

John Mahowald

2/4/23, 5:58 PM

VMware virtual disks cannot be extended if they have snapshots.

Archive what you need to preserve to a real backup system. Beware some backup systems will not preserve snapshots, consider copying files direct from the hypervisor. Test restore by creating a new VM from this backup.

Delete the snapshots.

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nop

2/4/23, 7:13 PM

I know that they cannot be extended while there are snapshots, but there are snapshots with licenses. Perhaps, if I restore to the latest snapshot and then delete every single snapshot and then recreate the snapshot, that would save the licenses?

Karsten Köpnick

2/4/23, 8:27 PM

@nop: Seems you need to elaborate. If the licenses are presently active, why would you lose them with deleting snapshots? If the licenses exist only in the snapshots, how did you ever plan to restore them without destroying the running system? And why is the answer to any of these questions not also the answer to your problem?

nop

2/4/23, 8:51 PM

@KarstenKöpnick, it won't destroy the system because nothing is really stored in there. All user data is stored on a file server and the accounts are basically domain accounts hosted on a Samba server. Once users log into their accounts all their data (Application Data, Desktop, Pictures, Music, etc.) gets copied to `C:\Users\_account_name_`. Oh actually, the VM has an old Visual Studio installed and that's all they need.

Karsten Köpnick

2/4/23, 9:04 PM

And why you need to increase a 200GB disk on a system that has nothing really stored on it end gets reverted to a snapshot every x days? Roaming profiles and increased amount of users?

nop

2/4/23, 9:20 PM

@KarstenKöpnick, because these account profiles are being copied in `C:\Users`, which is huge. And yes, there are new users every next year.

Karsten Köpnick

2/5/23, 11:00 AM

@nop " if I restore to the latest snapshot and then delete every single snapshot and then recreate the snapshot, that would save the licenses?" - I think you are the only person who can answer that. You must know what happens when after x days the snapshots gets restored. If that works as intended, I'd say you answered your own question. And if it doesn't work, you answered your own question and found why this approach is probably not the best way to save old images of servers.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Cannot extend VMware HDD because of snapshots that I cannot delete

TH: ไม่สามารถขยาย VMware HDD เนื่องจากสแน็ปช็อตที่ฉันไม่สามารถลบได้

RO: Nu pot extinde VMware HDD din cauza instantaneelor pe care nu le pot șterge

RU: Невозможно расширить жесткий диск VMware из-за моментальных снимков, которые я не могу удалить

VI: Không thể mở rộng VMware HDD vì ảnh chụp nhanh mà tôi không thể xóa

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