The only supported method of shrinking a VMware virtual machine disk ( VMDK) is to use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone and create a virtual to virtual ( V2V) conversion, a similar process to a Physical to Virtual ( P2V) conversion. However, although there is a down arrow present, you cannot shrink the disk in this way, it's not supported.

HOW TO: Resize a VMware (VMDK) Virtual Disk.

Please see my previous Experts Exchange article and screenshot below: Increasing the size of a VMware Virtual Machine Disk ( VMDK) is straightforward, and is supported in the vSphere Client, by selecting the virtual hard disk, and increasing the size using the up arrow icon or typing in a new value.

Part 12: HOW TO: Configure and Replace the SSL Certificate on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) Host Server.

Part 11: HOW TO: Suppress Configuration Issues System logs on host are stored on non-persistent storage.

Part 10: HOW TO: Backup (Export) and Restore (Import) virtual machines to VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 for FREE.

Part 9: HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Linux on a VMware Linux virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) Host Server.

Part 8: HOW TO: Install VMware Tools for Windows on a VMware Windows virtual machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) Host Server.Part 7: HOW TO: Create your first Windows Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) Host Server.Part 6: HOW TO: Create your first Linux Virtual Machine on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) Host Server.

Part 5: HOW TO: Enable SSH Remote Access on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1).

Part 4: HOW TO: Upload an ISO CD-ROM/DVD-ROM image to a VMware datastore for use with VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) using the vSphere Client, and checking its MD5 checksum signature is correct.

Part 3: HOW TO: Create an ISO CD-ROM/DVD-ROM image (*.iso), and MD5 checksum signature, for use with VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1).

Part 2: HOW TO: Connect to the VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1) using the vSphere Client.

Part 1: HOW TO: Install and Configure VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 (ESXi 5.1).

For consistency, I have used VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.1 throughout this series. These articles are also applicable to VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.x and 5.5. If you would like to read the other articles in this series, they are listed here for your convenience.ĭuring this series of articles VMware released VMware vSphere 5.5 and VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.5.

My next series of articles will concentrate on topics for the VMware Novice this is the thirteenth article in this series. In my previous VMware Experts Exchange Articles, most featured Intermediate VMware Topics. HOW TO: Shrink a VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone v5.5.2

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