Share via

Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard to perform various actions that modify virtual hard disks. The available actions differ depending on the type of disk you select. The following table provides information for each action.

Action Description

Compact

Applies to dynamically expanding virtual hard disks and differencing virtual hard disks. Reduces the size of the .vhd file by removing blank space that is left behind when data is deleted from the virtual hard disk. If the virtual hard disk is not NTFS formatted, the blank space must be overwritten with zeroes so that the compact action can reduce the file size by removing sectors that contain only zeroes.

Note
If the virtual hard disk is not NTFS formatted, you must prepare the virtual hard disk for compacting by using a non-Microsoft disk utility program to replace the blank space with zeroes.

Convert

Converts a dynamically expanding virtual hard disk to a fixed virtual hard disk, or vice versa.

Expand

Increases the storage capacity of a dynamically expanding virtual hard disk or a fixed virtual hard disk.

Merge

Applies to differencing disks only. Allows you to combine the changes stored in a differencing disk with the contents of the parent disk. You can either copy the contents of the parent disk and differencing disk into a new virtual hard disk, which leaves both source disks intact, or you can apply the changes to the parent disk.

Reconnect

Applies to differencing disks only. If you select a differencing disk and the parent virtual hard disk cannot be located, this page appears automatically. If the disks are part of a chain of differencing disks, this page will appear if the wizard cannot locate any of the disks in the chain.

Additional references