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atricapilla
Asked: 2010-11-16 03:59:07 +0800 CST

How to extend system drive in Windows Server 2003

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I have virtual machine (VMware vCenter 4.0) using Windows Server 2003. I would like to extend C:-drive. I can see the unallocated space in C:-drive (disk management). How to do that in Windows Server 2003?

windows-server-2003 vmware-esxi

4 Answers

  1. Dell have provided an command line extender utility called ExtPart.exe that will grow the C: drive on Windows 2003 servers without downtime. They wont provide any support for it if it goes wrong though and you should bear in mind that Microsoft don't support any mechanism for growing system partitions on Windows 2003 so you need to be happy to accept that you will be on your own if something goes wrong down the line.

    I've used this in labs and test environment for quite some time and have had no issues with it but I've never left a server that I used this on running for an extended period of time. Some applications fail to notice that the volume size has changed after this has run so a reboot is a good idea even if its not absolutely required.

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  2. Best Answer

    This question has been asked before and would have come up in the previous questions list as you typed this questions.

    I'd suggest using a GPARTD live boot CD image.

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  3. Acronis Disk Director is also another option, not free, but very effective and popular.

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