Expand disk in SCVMM while checkpoint is active

Today I noticed it is not possible in the VMM Console to expand a virtual SCSI disk while a Checkpoint is active. Well, that can be problematic while you’re in the middle of an upgrade (yeah, you should have checked that free disk space before starting your actions! 😉 ).

Luckily, it IS possible to expand your virtual disk in the Virtual Machine Manager Command Shell. Follow these steps to expand your hard drive online, while maintaining your checkpoint:

1. Start Virtual Machine Manager Command Shell on your server where SCVMM is installed (or any other machine where the console is installed)
2. Type and enter:

   Get-SCVirtualMachine "yourvm" | Get-SCVirtualDiskDrive #where yourvm is the name of your out-of-diskspace virtual machine

   Note the name of the VirtualHarddisk. Copy it.
   

3. Enter the following cmdlet.
   a) Replace yourvm for your actual Vmname.
   b) Replace yourvm_disk_1_… for the name you retrieved in previous step.
   c) Replace 80 for the disk size you want the virtual disk to be. I.e.: If the disk is 80GB now, and you need 20GB more, enter 100

   Get-SCVirtualMachine "yourvm" | Get-SCVirtualDiskDrive | ?{$_.VirtualHardDisk -like "yourvm_DISK_1_22A2E9D7-4DBB--B482-ED6934791BD8"} | Expand-SCVirtualDiskDrive -VirtualHardDiskSizeGB 80

4. Log on to the VM, and expand your harddisk in Disk Manager (diskmgmt.msc)

Note: when you revert to your checkpoint, the disk resize action is made undone.

Aboves’ steps are verified on the following configuration:
Windows Server 2012 R2
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 (SCVMM 2012 R2)
Virtual Machine with Windows 10 installed. SCSI Adapter with Differencing Disk type