Extending a server 2003 VM system/boot disk

Whether using basic or dynamic disks, Windows Server 2003 doesn’t provide a method to extend the size of the system or boot disk. In VI35, I have used the following process to extend the system/boot disk of 2003 server virtual machines. Note that this is for the system/boot disk only, data volumes can be grown and extended live.

This process requires the VM to be shutdown, then a small outage while the disk is extended, then a reboot once the OS is first started.

The process I used in VI 3.5 U4, with a 2003 SP2 virtual machine:

1. Turn the VM off - VM1 in this example
2. Use VC to increase the size of the boot/system disk of VM1 by xGB (6 in my test)
3. Use VC to attach the disk inside another running VM that can be shutdown, eg. VM2
4. On VM2, load diskmgmt.msc, rescan disks (or run diskpart rescan)
5. On VM2, start diskpart:
   
   1. List vol (get a list of volumes)
      
   2. Select vol x (where x is the number of the newly added disk)
      
   3. Extend
6. Shutdown VM2 and detach the disk (don’t delete it!)
7. Start VM1
8. On my test, after logon, a setupapi message ‘Windows has finished installing new devices. Do you want to restart your computer now?’.
9. Said yes and the server restarted, diskmgmt.msc shows correctly sized disk.
10. Ran chkdsk c: to verify no corruption

Step 8 has a matching event ID 271 from PlugPlayManager and setupapi.log entry:

The Plug and Play operation cannot be completed because a device driver is
preventing the device from stopping. The name of the device driver is listed as
the vetoing service name below.
Vetoed device:
STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00
Vetoing device:
STORAGE\Volume\1&30a96598&0&Signature6AF3AEFAOffset7E00Length53FD06C00
Vetoing service name: FileSystem\Ntfs
Veto type 6: PNP_VetoDevice
When Windows attempts to install, upgrade, remove, or reconfigure a device,
it queries the driver responsible for that device to confirm that the operation
can be performed. If any of these drivers denies permission (query-removal
veto), then the computer must be restarted in order to complete the operation.
User Action
Restart your computer.

Setupapi.log driver logging showing the first vetoed attempt at installation and then the shadow copy volume snapshot install:
[2009/05/06 08:45:46 404.3 Driver Install]
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): storage\volume
#-198 Command line processed: C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
#I393 Modified INF cache "C:\WINDOWS\inf\INFCACHE.1".
#W383 "volume.PNF" migrate: PNF Language = 0409, Thread = 0c09.
#I022 Found "STORAGE\Volume" in C:\WINDOWS\inf\volume.inf; Device: "Generic volume"; Driver: "Generic volume"; Provider: "Microsoft"; Mfg: "Microsoft"; Section name: "volume_install".
#I023 Actual install section: [volume_install.NTx86]. Rank: 0x00000000. Driver date: 10/01/2002. Version: 5.2.3790.3959.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [volume_install] in "c:\windows\inf\volume.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICEFILES.
#I124 Doing copy-only install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00".
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [volume_install.NTx86.Interfaces] from "c:\windows\inf\volume.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00".
#W100 Query-removal during install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00" was vetoed by "STORAGE\Volume\1&30a96598&0&Signature6AF3AEFAOffset7E00Length53FD06C00" (veto type 6: PNP_VetoDevice).
#W104 Device "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00" required reboot: Query remove failed (install) CfgMgr32 returned: 0x17: CR_REMOVE_VETOED.
#I121 Device install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE6AF3AEFAOFFSET7E00LENGTH53FD06C00" finished successfully.
[2009/05/06 08:55:18 400.3 Driver Install]
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): storage\volumesnapshot
#-198 Command line processed: C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
#W383 "volsnap.PNF" migrate: PNF Language = 0409, Thread = 0c09.
#I022 Found "STORAGE\VolumeSnapshot" in C:\WINDOWS\inf\volsnap.inf; Device: "Generic volume shadow copy"; Driver: "Generic volume shadow copy"; Provider: "Microsoft"; Mfg: "Microsoft"; Section name: "volume_snapshot_install".
#I023 Actual install section: [volume_snapshot_install.NTx86]. Rank: 0x00000000. Driver date: 10/01/2002. Version: 5.2.3790.3959.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [volume_snapshot_install] in "c:\windows\inf\volsnap.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {533C5B84-EC70-11D2-9505-00C04F79DEAF}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICEFILES.
#I124 Doing copy-only install of "STORAGE\VOLUMESNAPSHOT\HARDDISKVOLUMESNAPSHOT1".
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [volume_snapshot_install.NTx86.Interfaces] from "c:\windows\inf\volsnap.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "STORAGE\VOLUMESNAPSHOT\HARDDISKVOLUMESNAPSHOT1".
#I121 Device install of "STORAGE\VOLUMESNAPSHOT\HARDDISKVOLUMESNAPSHOT1" finished successfully.

References

How to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows 2000, and in Windows Server 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2009 Wayne Martin.