How to increase memory of a VM without changing the disk space

Question

How to increase memory of a VM without changing the disk space

Kavish Bansal 0

We have a VM with 8GB memory, 2vCPUs and 12GB of Disk Storage. We increased our disk storage a while back, but now we want to increase our VM memory as well. But the option to upgrade to 16GB config has 32GB of disk storage. If I proceed with this, will it downgrade the disk storage to 32GB? What happens to the data we have stored? Is it possible to upgrade the memory independently of Disk storage?

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Anonymous

2025-03-11T12:06:07.1166667+00:00
Hi Kavish Bansal,

The changes only affect if the VM gets restarted. My recommendation steps include.

Upgrading to a 16GB memory configuration, which includes 32GB of disk storage, is expected to modify your current disk storage from 12GB to 32GB.

The data currently stored on your virtual machine (VM) should remain unaffected during this upgrade, assuming the process is carried out correctly.

Prior to adjusting the memory allocation, it is essential to power off the VM, as most platforms do not permit memory modifications while the VM is operational.

Identify and select the VM for which you wish to enhance the memory. Search for an option such as "Edit Settings," "Configuration," or "Properties" related to the selected VM.

Using the Azure Portal

Make sure to Turn off VM first

Open the Azure portal.

Open the page for the virtual machine.

In the left menu, select Size.

Pick a new size from the list of available sizes and then select Resize.

Note: If the virtual machine is currently running, changing its size will cause it to be restarted. Stopping the virtual machine may reveal additional sizes.

If the server downtime is applicable, the alternative option is to create a PowerShell script to automate the VM RAM increase/decrease process. Before the job run (or processing of the report), increase the RAM, post-process downgrades the RAM/CPU.

If you found it helpful, could you kindly click the “upvote” on the post.

If you have any further queries, please let us know we are glad to help you.

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Anonymous

2025-03-11T12:06:07.1166667+00:00

Hi Kavish Bansal,

The changes only affect if the VM gets restarted. My recommendation steps include.

Upgrading to a 16GB memory configuration, which includes 32GB of disk storage, is expected to modify your current disk storage from 12GB to 32GB.

The data currently stored on your virtual machine (VM) should remain unaffected during this upgrade, assuming the process is carried out correctly.

Prior to adjusting the memory allocation, it is essential to power off the VM, as most platforms do not permit memory modifications while the VM is operational.

Identify and select the VM for which you wish to enhance the memory. Search for an option such as "Edit Settings," "Configuration," or "Properties" related to the selected VM.

Using the Azure Portal

Make sure to Turn off VM first

Open the Azure portal.

Open the page for the virtual machine.

In the left menu, select Size.

Pick a new size from the list of available sizes and then select Resize.

Note: If the virtual machine is currently running, changing its size will cause it to be restarted. Stopping the virtual machine may reveal additional sizes.

If the server downtime is applicable, the alternative option is to create a PowerShell script to automate the VM RAM increase/decrease process. Before the job run (or processing of the report), increase the RAM, post-process downgrades the RAM/CPU.

If you found it helpful, could you kindly click the “upvote” on the post.

If you have any further queries, please let us know we are glad to help you.

Answer 1

TP 124.7K Volunteer Moderator

Hi Kavish,

The 32GB disk storage you are referring to is for the temporary disk, usually D: drive on Windows VM. It has nothing to do with your Standard SSD LRS 128GB disk you have in your last screenshot.

Provided you are not storing important files on the temporary disk (you should only put temporary files that are okay to delete there), you can go ahead and resize the VM to Standard D4s_v3.

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP

Kavish Bansal 0 Reputation points

2025-03-12T07:24:44.46+00:00

It is a Linux VM. Would the 128GB data still be unaffected?
TP 124.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-03-12T10:36:58.12+00:00

It is a Linux VM. Would the 128GB data still be unaffected?

The 128GB disk will be unaffected, same as Windows VM.

IMPORTANT: You should be regularly backing up your VM if it contains data that you don't want to lose. You can use Azure Backup for this if you want.

At a bare minimum, you could manually take a snapshots of your 128GB disk. To do this you may navigate to your VM in the portal, Settings -- Disks blade, click on your 128GB disk, next click Create snapshot, fill out options, Review + create, Create.

When taking disk snapshots it is better to Stop the VM first, in case any of the programs you have running in the VM are in the middle of saving/modifying files.

I mention backing up your VM because although it is rare, there are many different reasons you could lose data. For example, you might accidently delete the VM/disk someday, or the VM crashes and some files are corrupted, or there is hardware failure, etc.
TP 124.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-03-13T09:10:03.1266667+00:00

@Kavish Bansal Any update?

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How to increase memory of a VM without changing the disk space

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