How to extend filesystem partition on Ubuntu VM?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu Desktop 14.04 as a VM on a mac with vmware fusion. I'm getting space warning issues and now want to expand from 20GB to 200GB.

I powered off the VM and on the vmware side increased the allocated disk space:

Power off the VM
VMWare Fusion -> Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Hard Disk (SCSI)

It then warned me that I should increase the partition size within the guest VM, which is unfortunate because I was hoping this would be automatic.

Looking at the disk usage analyzer inside of Ubuntu, it only currently sees the original 20 GB. How do I increase this to the 200 GB I allocated?

I'm looking for better direction than what is posted here.

From the Disks app, I see:

enter image description here

REsize option greyed out! ouch! this has helped though: http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=16987 as partitions were locked so I had to "deactivate them" first.. — , May 24 '16 at 09:32
Right click the partition square in your Disks screen and select "Resize". I think the two overlapping ones (stacked in the UI) can both be extended, top one first. I'm using Ubuntu 20.04 and following these instructions help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/disk-resize.html.en. — Joseph Hansen, Jun 15 '20 at 01:58

score 50 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 26 '17 at 09:20

50

You do not need a live CD for this to work. I'm basically summarizing the other answers given here:

From Ubuntu (in VM) install gparted by executing sudo apt-get install gparted in terminal
Open sudo gparted from terminal
Rightclick on the swap partition, click "swapoff"
Delete swap partition
Extend your data partition, but leave enough space to create a new swap partition
Recreate swap partition with about the same size as before, select linux-swap as file system
Click that green tick in gparted to apply all operations. Then select "swapon" to enable swap again

answered Nov 26 '17 at 09:20

leosh

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This should be the selected answer. The selected answer doesn't mention that if there is a partition between your main filesystem and your free space, that you will have to remove it in order to extend your main fs, and then you'll have to recreate it after. – Nathan F. Mar 28 '18 at 16:44
@NathanFiscaletti Indeed, the selected answer doesn't mention anything about removing partition (if it is between main fs and free space) but it does mention about moving it :) – Faizan Akram Dar Mar 01 '19 at 15:17
Actually, Ubuntu has been fine with Swap _files_ for years, so I'd get rid of the swap partition, get rid of the extended partition, and then extend the first primary partition to fill the disk. – Auspex Apr 26 '19 at 14:14
@leosh How do you extend the data partition? – Nubcake Dec 31 '20 at 10:57
@Nubcake In `gparted`, rightclick the partition and choose `Resize/Move`. – leosh Jan 04 '21 at 07:07
Recreating the swap partition created a new UUID, so I had to also put the new UUID for the swap partition in /etc/fstab to stop it having a long delay every reboot. – localhost Jun 21 '23 at 10:15

score 43 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '15 at 09:00

43

From Ubuntu (in VM) Install gparted by executing sudo apt-get install gparted in Terminal.

Open gparted either from terminal or from dash. Then extend you disk, maybe you may have to move your extended partition at the end of disk.

answered Apr 16 '15 at 09:00

Faizan Akram Dar

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But you can not modify a partition that's currently in use. And because it's a VM, booting from a USB stick isn't as straightforward. Can you provide any more details? – tarabyte Apr 16 '15 at 16:49
You can boot from iso image (live session) in VM and then modify the disks using `gparted` – Faizan Akram Dar Apr 17 '15 at 02:51
6

Turns out you can modify a partition which is in use. – tarabyte May 06 '15 at 05:28
1

@tarabyte how? On my VM this doesn't seem possible – mitchus Apr 03 '20 at 08:36
also not possible to modify inuse partition in my vm – Garglesoap Oct 06 '20 at 01:13
How do you extend the disk? – Nubcake Dec 31 '20 at 10:57
@Nubcake Using gparted as said above. See answer from Maythux, it contains screenshots of gparted which might give a better understanding – Faizan Akram Dar Jan 14 '21 at 22:44
I was not able to resize the partition even when I booted using gparted livecd. Turned out that the partition in question was inside an extended partition and I had to resize the extended partition to consume the unallocated space. Only after this, was I able to expand the partition fully. – Bharat Mallapur May 01 '21 at 05:08

MSS · Answer 3 · 2019-04-11T06:57:56.607

You should first delete all partitions between your partition and free space. You can do it using parted command.

Install parted if you don't have them using :
```
sudo apt-get install cloud-guest-utils
```
turn off swap. we gonna remove it's partition!
```
sudo swapoff -a
```
run sudo parted.

get partitions list with print all:

(parted) print all
Model: Virtio Block Device (virtblk)
Disk /dev/vda: 752GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system     Flags
1      1049kB  528GB  528GB   primary   ext4            boot
2      528GB   537GB  8588MB  extended
5      528GB   537GB  8588MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)

remove none root partitions with rm (part-index):

(parted) rm 5
Warning: Partition /dev/vda5 is being used. Are you sure you want to continue?
Yes/No? yes
Error: Partition(s) 5 on /dev/vda have been written, but we have been unable to
inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use.  As a
result, the old partition(s) will remain in use.  You should reboot now before
making further changes.
Ignore/Cancel? C
(parted) print all
Model: Virtio Block Device (virtblk)
Disk /dev/vda: 752GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  528GB  528GB   primary   ext4         boot
 2      528GB   537GB  8588MB  extended


(parted) rm 2
Error: Partition(s) 5 on /dev/vda have been written, but we have been unable to
inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use.  As a
result, the old partition(s) will remain in use.  You should reboot now before
making further changes.
Ignore/Cancel? C
(parted) print all
Model: Virtio Block Device (virtblk)
Disk /dev/vda: 752GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  528GB  528GB  primary  ext4         boot

The commands works on ubuntu 16.04 (NONE LVM) and machine is running on a kvm:

sudo growpart /dev/vda 1
sudo resize2fs /dev/vda1

`growpart` and `resize2fs` are e.g. available via `sudo apt-get install cloud-guest-utils` — NextThursday, Jun 20 '18 at 14:21
cloud-guest-utils (and thus growpart) is also available on Ubuntu 14.04. — jmidgren, Sep 27 '18 at 08:01
Much better. Who's putting desktop OS's on VMs? [I know, I know; I have a bunch, too, but for the most part they should be headless] — Auspex, Apr 26 '19 at 14:15
You can also manually using fdisk deleting the primary partition and recreate a new one with the full size. Doing so avoids the need to install cloud-gest-utils / growpart. As resze2fs already come installed on my ubuntu server. Do it with caution though! — some user, Oct 07 '21 at 17:39

score 16 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 22 '17 at 11:49

16

Download gparted LIVECD iso from here
From your VM Choose the iso file and boot as live CD
- Add the iso into your cd-rom drive from the GuestVM settings
or
- Set to boot from the CDROM in BIOS (F2 when you start your VM)
Once tha gparted Live Cd runs you can use gparted now
Choose the partition to resize and choose the new size and then apply
When end reboot and be sure to remove the iso file attached to the VM CD ROM, and boot to your Ubuntu.

enter image description here

edited Jun 22 '17 at 11:49

hildred

5,759
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answered Apr 18 '15 at 10:15

Maythux

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Can you elaborate more on step 2? Choose from what? Right-click? – tarabyte Apr 20 '15 at 03:05
@tarabyte Choose the Gparted IO Live CD to boot from in your Virtual machine.... – Maythux Apr 20 '15 at 07:32
So download Gparted IO Live CD on the Host OS, and NOT the guest OS (Ubuntu)? – tarabyte Apr 20 '15 at 21:13
Download wherever you want but use it in the CD ROM of your VM which means the guest – Maythux Apr 21 '15 at 05:17
In case there is a swap partition in between: http://askubuntu.com/a/120381/126822 – rlcabral Nov 19 '16 at 19:30

How to extend filesystem partition on Ubuntu VM?

4 Answers4

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