When you create a new virtual machine in Oracle VM VirtualBox, most often you create it with the default settings which means you'll have a virtual hard disk of size anywhere between 2GB - 12GB depending up on the version of Linux that you selected. Usually this default disk size will be just enough to do a full install of your selected operating system. However if you have to install several additional packages then you'll run out of space in your root volume.
For example, if you select Red Hat as the Linux version then the default size of your virtual disk will be 8GB. Then when you install a Linux Operating System on this virtual machine with default partitioning scheme you'll have around 6GB of space on your root partition (/) and remaining space taken by boot and swap partitions. Typically 6GB root partition could be just enough for a full install of Red Hat / CentOS operating system but if you want to install additional software on top of it say, Oracle client, Node, meteor, React etc. finally you will reach a situation where there is no more space left on your filesystem. This article shows you how to increase the size of the LVM root partition on a Linux Virtual Machine running on Oracle VM VirtualBox.
Warning!! Incorrect use of fdisk utility and LVM commands may result in data loss or may even damage the entire virtual disk. Remember to save a backup copy of your Virtual Machine disk files before you make any changes.
Step 1: Extend the virtual disk file size
Open a command prompt and navigate to the Virtualbox installation folder.
cd "c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
List all virtual hard disks and take note of the Location of the disk you want to resize.
c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox> vboxmanage list hdds UUID: 3d0ed16a-0649-4f61-9ecc-5a86c42b6f53 Parent UUID: base State: created Type: normal (base) Location: C:\Users\<user>\VirtualBox VMs\<vm>\NewVirtualDisk1.vdi Storage format: VDI Capacity: 8192 MBytes Encryption: disabled
Resize the disk.
c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox> vboxmanage modifymedium disk "C:\Users\<user>\VirtualBox VMs\<vm>\NewVirtualDisk1.vdi" --resize 3000
The size is specified in MB.
Verify disk size.
c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox> vboxmanage list hdds UUID: 3d0ed16a-0649-4f61-9ecc-5a86c42b6f53 Parent UUID: base State: created Type: normal (base) Location: C:\Users\<user>\VirtualBox VMs\<vm>\NewVirtualDisk1.vdi Storage format: VDI Capacity: 11192 MBytes Encryption: disabled
Note:To be able to resize a disk it should be created as a dynamically allocated disk. You cannot resize of virtual disk that is created as a fixed size disk.
To convert a fixed disk to dynamic, run
c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox> vboxmanage clonemedium disk "C:\Users\<user>\VirtualBox VMs\<VM>\NewVirtualDisk1.vdi" "C:\Users\<user>\VirtualBox VMs\<vm>\NewVirtualDisk12.vdi" --variant Standard
Step 2: Add new partition
List disk devices and partitions.
# fdisk -l Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 2099199 1048576 83 Linux /dev/sda2 2099200 16777215 7339008 8e Linux LVM
The above output shows there are two partitions on the disk /dev/sda. To add a new partition, run
# fdisk /dev/sda
In the fdisk command prompt,
- Enter n to create a new partition.
- Enter p to create primary partition.
- Press ENTER to accept default for first sector.
- Press ENTER to accept default for Last sector. This will create a partition with all the remaining available space on the disk. Alternatively you could specify the size, for example +2G will add a partition of size 2GB.
- Enter t to set the type of the new partition to Linux LVM.
- Select partition number 3.
- Enter 8e as the Hex code.
- Finally enter the command w to save the changes to disk and exit fdisk.
Step 3: Reboot the Virtual Machine and Initialize LVM
To initialize LVM on the newly created partition, run
# pvcreate /dev/sda3 Physical volume "/dev/sda4" successfully created.
Step 4: Add partition to volume group
To do this, first List physical volumes and note the VG Name from the output.
# pvdisplay
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
VG Name centos
PV Size <7.00 GiB / not usable 3.00 MiB
Allocatable yes (but full)
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 1791
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 1791
PV UUID M46abM-BMhT-LSGm-sxGb-8wf8-lSV4-fjtei3
"/dev/sda3" is a new physical volume of "7.53 GiB"
--- NEW Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sda3
VG Name
PV Size 7.53 GiB
Allocatable NO
PE Size 0
Total PE 0
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 0
PV UUID cFRLij-grti-jBeb-1OT6-4qRs-vTo8-Dhp5xy
Extend the root volume group.
# vgextend centos /dev/sda3
Volume group "centos" successfully extended
Step 5: Extend the root logical volume
Identify the path for the root logical volume.
# lvdisplay
--- Logical volume ---
LV Path /dev/centos/swap
LV Name swap
VG Name centos
LV UUID zhvC0n-EZ3P-Xec6-k08e-TFRh-95HQ-gVRf8m
LV Write Access read/write
LV Creation host, time localhost, 2018-02-13 10:18:54 +0000
LV Status available
# open 2
LV Size 820.00 MiB
Current LE 205
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 8192
Block device 253:1
--- Logical volume ---
LV Path /dev/centos/root
LV Name root
VG Name centos
LV UUID 0wEuQA-DSzu-1Syp-596R-T3Wb-O9Ld-DlMZJc
LV Write Access read/write
LV Creation host, time localhost, 2018-02-13 10:18:55 +0000
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size <10.10 GiB
Current LE 2585
Segments 2
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 8192
Block device 253:0
Extend the logical volume and resize to filesystem.
# lvextend --size +2G --resizefs /dev/centos/root
Step 6: Verify disk size.
To verify the size of root volume, run
# df -h
