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Resize the VirtualBox Disk (.vdi)

Introduction​

This guide explains how to extend the size of the guest VM hard disk in VirtualBox. In this example, we are going to extend the hard disk for a vm called Langflow5.

The vm is struggling because 97% of the root partition has been used.

harry@templateunbutu:~$ df -h
Filesystem                         Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                              794M  1.1M  793M   1% /run
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv  8.1G  7.4G  293M  97% /
tmpfs                              3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                              5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
/dev/sda2                          1.7G  245M  1.4G  16% /boot
tmpfs                              794M  4.0K  794M   1% /run/user/1000

Steps​

Step 1. Connect to the Host Server​

Use SSH or PuTTY to connect:

ssh username@serverip

Step 2. - Shutdown the VM​

  • Make sure the VM is completely powered off (not just saved or paused).
vboxmanage controlvm "Langflow5" acpipowerbutton

Step 3. - Find path To The Hard Disk​

  • Find the path to your VM's virtual disk.
VBoxManage list hdds
  • In this example, the UUID is /home/vboxadmin/don/Langflow5/Langflow5.vdi.
UUID:           863a1d6d-71e5-4d72-9de4-e05393de0803
Parent UUID:    base
State:          locked write
Type:           normal (base)
Location:       /home/vboxadmin/don/Langflow5/Langflow5.vdi
Storage format: VDI
Capacity:       10240 MBytes
Encryption:     disabled

Step 4. - Increase size​

  • Resize the disk (example: increase to 50 GB).
VBoxManage modifyhd /home/vboxadmin/don/Langflow5/Langflow5.vdi --resize 51200

Step 5. - Start the VM​

Boot the VM in headless mode:

vboxmanage startvm "Langflow5" --type headless

Step 6. - Grow The Guest Partition​

  1. Download GParted Live ISO Get it here: 👉 https://gparted.org/livecd.php

  2. Attach the ISO in VirtualBox Open VirtualBox

Select your VM → Settings → Storage

Click the CD icon next to the optical drive

Choose the GParted ISO

  1. Boot the VM into GParted Start the VM

You should boot into the GParted environment

If prompted, just go with the default options

  1. Resize /dev/sda3 In the GParted UI:

Select the sda3 partition

Right-click → Resize/Move

Drag the slider all the way to the right (or type in full size, e.g., ~48GB)

Click Apply

This operation will resize the physical partition (/dev/sda3) without touching your data

  1. Shutdown GParted & Boot Back to Ubuntu Power off the VM

In VirtualBox, remove the GParted ISO from the CD drive (Settings → Storage)

Boot your VM as usual

Step 7. Grow​

  • Once you're back in guest:
sudo pvresize /dev/sda3
sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv
sudo resize2fs /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv

Step 8. - Confirm Hard Drive has been extended​

  • Finally:
df -h
  • You should see something like 48G total on /
harry@templateunbutu:~$ df -h
Filesystem                         Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                              794M  1.1M  793M   1% /run
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv   48G  7.4G   39G  17% /
tmpfs                              3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                              5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
/dev/sda2                          1.7G  245M  1.4G  16% /boot
tmpfs                              794M  4.0K  794M   1% /run/user/1000
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