How to decrease size of KVM virtual machine disk image

Posted by Cerin on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Cerin
Published on 2012-10-13T20:41:42Z Indexed on 2012/10/13 21:39 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 218

Filed under:

linux

|

virtual-machines

|

kvm-virtualization

How do you decrease or shrink the size of a KVM virtual machine disk?

I allocated a virtual disk of 500GB (stored at /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.img), and I'm finding that overkill, so now I'd like to free up some of that space for use with other virtual machines. There seems to be a lot answers on how to increase image storage, but not decrease it. I found the virt-resize tool, but it only seems to work with raw disk partitions, not disk images.

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about virtual-machines

VBoxHeadless - Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 3.1.x On A Headless Fedora 12 Server

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
<b>Howtoforge:</b> "This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with Sun VirtualBox 3.1.x on a headless Fedora 12 server. Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a desktop environment. Fortunately, VirtualBox comes with… >>> More
Windows Azure Virtual Machine Test Drive Kit

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
The public preview of hosted Virtual Machines in Windows Azure is now available to the general public. This platform preview enables you to evaluate our new IaaS and Enterprise Networking capabilities. Once you have registered for the 90 Day Free Trial and created a new account, you can access the… >>> More
Quick and clean ways to clone virtual machines

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have 2 hypervisors running. One is an ESXi 4, the other one a Hyper-V 2008 R2. My question is: What is the cleanest and easiest way to clone a machine under each hypervisor without using any centralized management tool. Thanks. >>> More
VMware Workstation: suspend all virtual machines with vmrun

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I know I can suspend a given VMware virtual machine on the command line with: vmrun suspend /path/to/virtual_machine_file.vmx Is there any way to suspend all virtual machines at once using vmrun? Something like vmrun suspend all? >>> More
Virtual Machines Renaming/Backing up/Sharing

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I've started using VMware virtual machines for all of my software development projects and have a few questions for others doing the same thing. First, how can you rename the virtual machine and the name of the virtual hard drive? I have a base development machine that I clone for different projects… >>> More