How to Extend a drive on an Azure VM

ZBal 5

Guys,

we have a VM on azure that runs sql server. Recently I increased the disc size of F drive from 1TB to 2TB on the azure portal. When I went to extend the drive from Disc Managment tool - I get the message that says I will end up converting the disc from basic to dynamic and some other warnings.

To overcome this the next guidance I was given by someone was to convert the drive first to ntfs... I did that and now my problems have got worse.. I dont even see an option to extend the F drive. What am I doing wrong? how do I extend the disc size of drive F.

Thanks in advance for your help.

User's image

ZBal 5 Reputation points

2025-01-08T00:51:23.85+00:00
ZBal 5 Reputation points

2025-01-09T02:18:30.6+00:00

HI Mounika,

Thanks for reaching out. You are spot on, as can been seen in the screenshot I do have a pool -so called Disc2 (sqlvmstoragepool1). The vm was built by some contractor so not sure what that means or why he built the pool. I have added disc space to several other vms in the past using azure portal, and I did the same this time. When I went to the portal and selected the discs, it showed me my F drive and G drive. I selected F drive and changed the disk size from 1TB to 2TB. When I remoted logged into the vm, the unallocated 1TB that I had recently added started showing next to the Disc 2 (sqlvmstoragepool1) and when I tried to extend my F drive it warned me that I would be converting F to dynamic if I was to follow through with my action.

What I was trying to explain to Marclin was the same thing, I did not try to add volume to some wrong disc or tried to extend the wrong disc. IN the portal I picked the correct disc to add extra space.. it is just showing under the pool

I really dont know is how to go about increasing the disc space on F without making it dynamic.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-10T04:49:03.4633333+00:00

Hi ZBal,
Following up check if the response provided has been helpful.

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.

Thank You.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-13T03:04:45.48+00:00

Hi ZBal,

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review the latest response provided on your question. Please let us know if it was helpful and feel free to reach out if you have any further queries.

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.

Thank You.
ZBal 5 Reputation points

2025-01-14T22:05:41.66+00:00

Hi Mounika,

No I have still not been able to resolve the issue. The things are just getting even more complicated. When I go to the storage pool management, it shows me 2 storage pools, one for drive F and other for Drive G but in disc management it only shows one storage pool. I followed the link which talks about how to extend volume in storage pool Microsoft Learn but in my case I dont even get an option to add a physical disc under storage pool. I have extended drives tons of times on vms... this is the first one which has me totally stumped.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-15T07:23:20.9866667+00:00

Hi ZBal,

Thank you for reaching back to us with further information!

I have thoroughly gone through the information you provided and as per my understanding, you have a storage pool named Disc2 (sqlvmstoragepool1), which is likely managing the virtual disks associated with your F drive. The contractor who built the VM may have set this up to manage storage more flexibly. Disk Management may only show the physical disks that are in a single pool or not display the storage pool if it’s not set up correctly.Verify the partition setups in Disk Management to ensure there is no misconfiguration that could be leading to the pools not being identified properly.

The provided image shows no direct information about another storage pool or virtual disk associated with the G drive, suggesting it might be managed separately or not configured within the visible storage pool management context.

You can use PowerShell to get a clearer view of your storage pools and physical disks. Run the following commands:

Get-StoragePool Get-PhysicalDisk Get-VirtualDisk

If you're unable to see the option to add a physical disk to your storage pool (like sqlvmstoragepool1), ensure that the physical disks you want to add are online and unallocated.

To add physical disks to a stand-alone tiered storage space in Windows Server, use powershell.

Identify the disks you want to add, then use the command below to add them to the pool (replace YourPoolName and YourDiskName accordingly):https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/storage/add-physicaldisk?view=windowsserver2025-ps

Sometimes a simple reboot can resolve synchronization issues between different management tools.

Let me know if you need further assistance!

If the comment id helpful, please click "upvote" to let us know.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-16T07:06:42.3633333+00:00

Hi ZBal,

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review the latest response provided on your question. Please let us know if it was helpful and feel free to reach out if you have any further queries.

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.

Thank You.

2 answers

Marcin Policht 32,510 Reputation points MVP

2025-01-07T22:08:20.41+00:00

You apparently extended a different disk (disk 2) from the one you intended to extend. You should see unallocated space to the right of the existing partition on the disk - that would allow you to extend it. Follow

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/expand-disks

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin
Please sign in to rate this answer.
ZBal 5 Reputation points

2025-01-07T22:15:35.8633333+00:00

Marcin, I did not. I tried to extend F and was getting some errors about disc would turn into dynamic from basic . The first screenshot is what I had right after increasing the volume on the portal.- thats when I went and formatted that unallocted and now I cant do anything.

Here is the screenshot from the portal... It still shows as F drive is 2 TB

Marcin Policht 32,510 Reputation points MVP

2025-01-07T22:32:24.6066667+00:00

Assigning the tag to the physical disk doesn't necessarily mean that this is actually the disk hosting the partition to which you assigned the letter F: within the operating system.

Your screenshot of the Disk Management console clearly shows that Disk 2 has 1 TB of unallocated space.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

ZBal 5 Reputation points

2025-01-09T02:20:17.48+00:00

Marcin, I didnt extend the wrong disc. There is no such thing as disc 2 on the portal from where I added additional disc space. Disc 2 is actually sqlvmstoragepool that came with the image that was used to build this sql vm. I did not create it. I specifically chose the drive F (labelled or not labelled) and added 1 tb to it.
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-08T05:56:59.9+00:00
Hi ZBal,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform! Thank you for asking your question here.

May I know if you have a storage pool configured?

Not supported: resizing the underlying storage used by Storage Spaces Direct. If you are running Storage Spaces Direct in a virtualized storage environment, including in Azure, resizing or changing the characteristics of the storage devices used by the virtual machines isn't supported and will cause data to become inaccessible.

Manage volumes in Azure Stack HCI and Windows Server

Looks like, to use Storage Spaces, you can add more Disks - but can't resize an existing one, to increase the pool.

Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1315027/convert-to-dynamic-disk-when-i-extend-disk-on-vm

As Marcin Policht said, the unallocated space must be immediately next to the volume you want to extend. If it's not, you cannot extend that volume using this method.

Let me know if you have any further queries!

If the comment is helpful, please click "upvote".
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,955 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-09T05:55:31.5366667+00:00

Hi ZBal,

Thank you for reaching back to us with additional information. Happy to help you.

Basic Disks are the default disk type in Windows, supporting primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives. Basic disks can be extended only if the unallocated space is immediately adjacent to the volume you wish to extend. If the unallocated space is not contiguous, Windows will prompt to convert the disk to dynamic to accommodate the extension.

To extend your F: drive without converting it to a dynamic disk, consider the following approaches:

Ensure Contiguous Unallocated Space: Verify that the unallocated space is immediately adjacent to the F: drive partition. If it's not, you may need to rearrange partitions to make the unallocated space contiguous, which can be complex and may require third-party partitioning tools.

Use Storage Pools (if applicable): If your disks are part of a storage pool, manage the extension through the storage pool management tools. This approach can help avoid the need to convert to dynamic disks. For detailed guidance, refer to Microsoft's documentation on extending storage spaces: Microsoft Learn

Third-Party Partitioning Tools: Some third-party tools can extend partitions without converting to dynamic disks, even when the unallocated space is non-contiguous. Ensure you use reputable software and back up your data before proceeding. Additional Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/extend-shrink-data-volume?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/extend-stand-alone-tiered-storage-spaces?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Note: Always back up your data before modifying disk partitions to prevent data loss and Converting a dynamic disk back to a basic disk requires deleting all volumes on the disk, which leads to data loss. Therefore, it's crucial to understand the implications before proceeding with the conversion.

Hope this helps!

Let me know if you have any further queries!

If the comment is helpful, please click "upvote":-)
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.

Share via

How to Extend a drive on an Azure VM

2 answers

Your answer