Here are the steps to create and add an extra virtual disk (hard drive) to a Windows VM.
Reasons why you may want to add a new virtual hard drive
– You are running out of hard disk space
– You need an additional virtual hard disk as a dedicated virtual drive for backing up files in the virtual machine
– You want a virtual disk which can be migrated to another virtual machine on a different location to transfer files and folder
Steps in Creating a VHD
In order to create and add a new, empty virtual hard drive to a Windows virtual machine
- Shut down the virtual machine. - Go to Virtual Machine - Click on Settings. - Click Add Device - Click on New Hard Disk. - Click Next. - Click Create a new virtual disk and - Click Next. To go to the Disk Capacity screen, specify the space you want and how you want the file to be stored. - Click Next. - Select the location to store the virtual disk in the storage folder of the virtual machine. - Click Finish. The next step will be to power on the virtual machine. - Initialize and format the new drive.
To initialize and format the new drive in Windows follow these steps. These steps could differ from your Windows Edition
- Click on the Start Menu, - Type diskmgmt.msc and - Click on OK. - Right-click the disk to be initialized and - Click Initialize Disk. Here Windows will prompt you to initialize the disk before the Logical Disk Manager can access it. - Select MBR (Master Boot Record) and click OK. - Right-click the unallocated space and - Click on New Simple Volume. - Click Next. - Enter the size of the partition (in MB) and click Next. - Select a drive letter and click Next. - Select the file system type and volume name. - Click Next. - Click Finish. Next Windows will prompt you to format the drive. - Click Format.
Henceforth, your drive is now available for usage.