Clarification Request for Resizing XP Space

L

LynnQ

Member
Hi again,

Well, I had installed and was happily running XP Home as my Guest OS on Parallels/Mac. That was until I imported a large amount of data in the form of e-mail messages. Then I ran into a Critical Low Disk Space message (down to 21 MB available). Anyway, I removed the offending folders, one at a time, and then removed one program that was not affected by this. I am now up to 430 MB available space (on an 8 GB drive allocation for XP). I would prefer to have a 30 GB XP drive.

Question 1. I wish to increase the file space available for XP. What is the simplest (for a novice Mac and Parallels user) method to accomplish this? I have read many newsgroup posts and am now unsure how to proceed. Could you please provide simple, step-by-step instructions for me?

Question 2. Should I decide to simply revert back, remove the Guest OS, XP. How to accomplish this in simple terms? Would I have to reformat the XP sector again, and is there a process in there (when installing XP) to allocate the disk drive size? Again, simple steps on how to remove the XP portion, and then how to re-install it with a 30 GB drive allocation.

Thanks so much in advance. I would just like to get this sorted out and carry on enjoying what seems to be a wonderful product. Apart from the disk size problem, it is fine!

Looking forward to your replies and assistance. Much appreciated!
 
Hi again,

Hoping someone can help me out here. I am now down to 0 MB disk space, no software I am willing to remove. Can someone guide me with respect to my questions above? Have had to shut down Windows XP and also Parallels Desktop for now.

Thanks again!
 
When in your OS, check for files such as the below. Some are several gigs in size. Delete them. By doing so, you will free up much valuable space in windows.

C:\Documents and Settings\<my Windows Login Name>\

OptiZero0.dat
OptiZero1.dat
OptiZero2.dat
 
I resized my Windows hd space by following the below. I'd like to give credit to someone, but don't remember (sorry) what thread I copied this from a while back?

Copy the HDD drive image file and rename
Use Image Tools to resize the original HDD file
Change your VM profile to boot off of the copied HDD image and add the original, resized image as a second hard disk
Once booted, open CMD prompt and run DISKPART
View volumes in DISKPART with the command list volume. Note which volume is your original, resized partition
Select that partition using the DISKPART command select volume # where # is the partition number.
Enter the command extend
Enter the command exit
Exit Windows and change the VM profile to once again boot from the original, resized image file. You can disconnect (and delete?) the copied image file from the VM profile.
Just some notes to help those that also want to do this.
1. When you do "List Volumns" you will be hit with 2 volumns that say the same size, so remember you've setup your backup copy as the boot so that will be the C: and you added your resized one and that will most likely be the E: (D: being the CD/DVD).

Here is what my "List Volume" looked like at the point just before extending
DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 D CD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 7995 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 E NTFS Partition 7995 GB Healthy System

at this point i did the "select volume 2" and then did the extend

It worked great for me.
 
Hello again!

Thank you for the replies. Based on the information provided and also the information included in my other post (Questions...) I am pondering whether to just remove the XP Home fromo here and put my XP Pro on instead. The other Windows computer should be fine with either system, I don't think it's critical which one is installed on there.

Therefore, that being the case, if I do decide to go ahead and put the XP Pro on here instead then do I just need to delete the appropriate file? Which file? Do I use the Tools function in Parallels to accomplish this and how? Or is there another way?

Sorry to sound vague, still new to Mac and also to Parallels and don't want to cause on problems on my Mac by doing something I shouldn't.

Thanks again... for everything, including patience...
 
While I've not had to reinstall, I think you have at least 2 (maybe 3 or more) options available to you. You can create a 2nd VM much in the same way you created the original. You would then have 2 guest OS's open to you. Alternatively, if you desire to change Windows Home to XP, you might consider deleting the first one altogether and start over from scratch. I believe Parallels tools has an uninstall function and this would be the best way to remove your current guest OS. Yet another consideration would be to upgrade your Windows installation, although I don't know if your WinXP is an upgrade version or not.

There may be other (better) ways to accomplish what you desire and I'm sure others will jump in with additional information.

Good luck and please post your results so we can all continue to learn.
 
LynnQ, while I'm glad you found a solution to your problems, I have a better / easier way to resize your VM. The problem with everyone's VM is that although you are able to resize the VM's HDD file with the Image tool, you are not able to resize the partition inside of it to fit the new disk image size. What you did was make a new partition to fill the extra space. An easier way to do this is to use a bootcd such as GParted, found here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Here's how I've resized my NTFS partition:

1. Use the Image Tool that comes with Parallels to resize the VM.
2. Boot to the GParted LiveCD and expand your current partition to fill the extra space.

Done!

...I know these are kinda bland instructions, but you'll figure it out! I dont have time to write the whole procedure (I'm on my 15 minute break...lol). Hope it helps!
 
pogi said:
Here's how I've resized my NTFS partition:

1. Use the Image Tool that comes with Parallels to resize the VM.
2. Boot to the GParted LiveCD and expand your current partition to fill the extra space.
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to post that hint!

I changed the size of my Expanding Image from 10GB to 25GB using the Image Tool without a problem, but then realized that I needed to change the Windows XP NTFS partition size within the image. Using the Gparted LiveCD was -very- easy and fast!
 
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