Can't increase VM disk size in El Capitan 10.11.1 (Parallels 11.1.0)

[NeilR1]

I'm trying to increase the virtual machine disk size of an El Capitan guest system - I've done this in the past, albeit not on El Capitan. This time round though, I'm not getting any option within the El Capitan guest OS to extend the current partition to occupy the new hard drive space. To outline my steps so far:

Within Parallels' Hardware options I edited the hard disk, moving the slider from 124gb to 512gb, leaving "Expanding disk" selected, as below. The option to Resize file system is greyed out.

Within the guest OS Disk Utility, it now looks like the images below. Clearly the disk is recognised as being 512gb, however I can't work out any way to expand the 124gb partition into the remaining space - the partition section simply doesn't see the full 512gb. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Neil

 

[NeilR1]

Just to add to this - I loaded an old backup on Yosemite to try the disk utility there (used an increase to 200gb though rather than 512gb). The disk utility plainly shows the available space and the partition can be resized simply by dragging the handle at the bottom of "Macintosh HD" (see below) - so the problem is clearly specific to Parallels 11 with El Capitan as a guest OS.

Am I missing something, or is this a bug in Parallels / El Capitan?

 

[TorquilH]

Bump +1... i am having exactly the same problem. I also made a support call to Parallels and spent an hour and a half to the support guy, who had no idea what to do about it. He also spoke to his senior staff member for 15 minutes, and came back with nothing.
The only thing he suggested was that "you need to delete your files so that you can work with a smaller disk"
Quality outsourcing of their support dept...

 

[kmw]

Bump +1
Tried the same with Yosemite, started the install, shut it down before it went on, fired up disk util, could see the space but could not partition... cannot unmount drive

 

[FlavioC]

El Capitan 10.11.5, MacBook Pro, Parallels 11.2.0
Me too, I cannot have Parallels automatically expand my .PVM HDD
I tried once (and I will NEVER repeat this) to launch the command "Expand" via the configuration menu. It ended up with an unuseful Virtual Machine.
(Moreover, I don't have the "Expanding Disk" option on configuration menu)

My drama: Windows 7 filled up the whole amount of disk image space. I had to dig into Win7, trying to create more space (clean unuseful files, defrag, reboot ....)

This is exactly why I turned to Mac, and now Parallels forces me into the past.

 

[Raj@Parallels]

Hey all,
To increase virtual hard disk space try this steps.
If increased size doesn't reflect in a virtual machine, please follow this steps outlined.

 

[JacoG]

The initial problem stated was for an Apple OS X 10.11 El Capitan guest system (NOT WINDOWS).
PLEASE GET THIS SORTED FOR APPLE GUESTS AS IT MAKES VM'S PRETTY USELESS WITH < 500MB FREE
I run an Apple OS X 10.11.5 guest VM inside an Apple MacBookPro OS X 10.11.5 and cannot increase the diskspace - it is greyed out / disabled:

But I get so far after some acrobatics / shenanigans of changing the source to the "Boot Camp Permissions" and after the error try again - but it does not always work.

Only have a single snapshots which I wish I could get rid off as it seems a waste of time...

 

[PaulChristopher@Parallels]

The initial problem stated was for an Apple OS X 10.11 El Capitan guest system (NOT WINDOWS).
PLEASE GET THIS SORTED FOR APPLE GUESTS AS IT MAKES VM'S PRETTY USELESS WITH < 500MB FREE
I run an Apple OS X 10.11.5 guest VM inside an Apple MacBookPro OS X 10.11.5 and cannot increase the diskspace - it is greyed out / disabled:
View attachment 11440
But I get so far after some acrobatics / shenanigans of changing the source to the "Boot Camp Permissions" and after the error try again - but it does not always work.
View attachment 11441
Only have a single snapshots which I wish I could get rid off as it seems a waste of time...
View attachment 11442

Hello JacoG, Parallels Desktop does support resize of virtual hard disk for the following hard disk formats only:
EXT4, EXT3, EXT2, NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, REISERFS. Unfortunately, the virtual disk of Mac OS X virtual machine cannot be resized post the installation.

 

[EricS6]

Dear Paul,
1. I tried to reinstall Parallels on my macbook pro 13 retina (late 2013, 16 gb ram, 512 ssd straight from the factory) but it has not work. The default disk size seems to be 64 gb. I would appreciate it if you can give me step by step instructions on how to reinstall parallels and increase my disk size to 128 gb. Would that work?
2. I would also like your opinion as to whether it is necessary to increase the virtual disc size. I am just concerned because I am running out of space and it seems there is not a lot left. Are most of your customers happy with a 64gb disk?
I am asking all these questions because my mac is 3 years old and I am planning to buy a new computer. Work is getting harder and I need windows. So I am thinking of buying a windows laptop if I can't get parallels to expand my disc size to 128 gb. Meaning I am worried that I cannot get all my work done on a 64 gb virtual machine in the future so maybe I should just go the hardware route. Parallels have been working well for me for the last 3 years and I don't want to give up my Mac but might have to if work demands it.
Thanks and kind regards
Eric

 

[PaulChristopher@Parallels]

Dear Paul,
1. I tried to reinstall Parallels on my macbook pro 13 retina (late 2013, 16 gb ram, 512 ssd straight from the factory) but it has not work. The default disk size seems to be 64 gb. I would appreciate it if you can give me step by step instructions on how to reinstall parallels and increase my disk size to 128 gb. Would that work?
2. I would also like your opinion as to whether it is necessary to increase the virtual disc size. I am just concerned because I am running out of space and it seems there is not a lot left. Are most of your customers happy with a 64gb disk?
I am asking all these questions because my mac is 3 years old and I am planning to buy a new computer. Work is getting harder and I need windows. So I am thinking of buying a windows laptop if I can't get parallels to expand my disc size to 128 gb. Meaning I am worried that I cannot get all my work done on a 64 gb virtual machine in the future so maybe I should just go the hardware route. Parallels have been working well for me for the last 3 years and I don't want to give up my Mac but might have to if work demands it.
Thanks and kind regards
Eric

Hello EricS6, please check out this article to know more about how to increase the hard disk size in the installation wizard. Parallels Desktop does not support Resizing virtual hard disk post installation.

 

[BERNDW1]

Hello EricS6, please check out this article to know more about how to increase the hard disk size in the installation wizard. Parallels Desktop does not support Resizing virtual hard disk post installation.

Dear Team,
tried that - no joy:
resize button greyed out
and in Disk management expand disk greyed out

when trying disport: after deleting partition and typing extend: there is not enough free space

Very grateful for your help here.
Bernd

 

[Ajith1]

Hi BERNDW1,
Confirm if you are trying to increase hard disk size of a Mac OS X VM or Windows VM.

 

[BERNDW1]

Sorry - should have included: Win 10 VM
Thank you
Bernd

 

[Ajith1]

Sorry - should have included: Win 10 VM
Thank you
Bernd

Refer to this article to increase hard disk size of the virtual machine.

 

[BERNDW1]

Thank you very much - tried before & did again, no success
Run chkdsk as suggested
These are the steps that do not work:
Choose the size you want for the virtual hard disk, check Resize file system and click Apply - Resize file system is greyed out
Right-click on the main C: partition and select Extend Volume - Extend volume is greyed out

Thanks very much for looking into this!
Bernd

 

[BERNDW1]

Hi Team, this is critical now - my VM has run out of space and is no longer functional.
Grateful for urgent reply.
Bernd

 

[EricB7]

Why does mine look like this? I have no option to resize at all.

 

[BERNDW1]

Dear Team,
there are clearly issues here and we need help asap. I have been through most articles and suggestions to no avail - can you please respond urgently.
Bernd

 

[BERNDW1]

Refer to this article to increase hard disk size of the virtual machine.

Tried that in vain - please reply to my post from 15/10 - this is now 10 days ago.

 

[Ajith1]

Why does mine look like this? I have no option to resize at all.

We can see that you are using a Boot camp partition as a VM from the screenshot. You cannot increase a Boot camp partition using VM settings. You can reach out Apple support for assistance with it.