Windows 10: Hyper V - freeing up space in hard drive

To whom it may concern,On my computer, I have a hard drive which stores all the virtual machines created in Hyper V. While using Hyper V, I noticed that the Windows 8 virtual machine was using 94.8 GB on my computer even though the virtual local disk was only about 50% full. As seen in the screenshot, I found that there was a huge file which was 80 GB. Since my hard drive only has 52.8 GB left, is the highlighted file safe to delete? Thanks in advance.RegardsMatthew

:)

 

Can't remove Hyper-V Virtual Hard Drive partition

Hi Robert,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I understand that you are facing an issue when you are trying to remove the Hyper-V Virtual Hard Drive partition. This partition is just a virtual partition that is created by using the space within your physical hard disk, so that
it can be used within Hyper-V. Since you are no longer using Hyper-V and you wish to remove the Virtual Hard Drive partition, I would suggest you to follow the steps below and check if it is helpful to you.

Steps to remove the Virtual Hard Drive partition using Disk Management:

1. Press the Windows key and
   R key, this will open the Run dialogue box for you.
   
2. Type diskmgmt.msc and press
   Enter, this will open the Disk Management Window for you.
   
3. Your Virtual Hard Drive will be indicated by a ‘blue’ drive beside the
   Disk n (n is the disk number to which the VHD is associated), select the allocated
   Volume, right-click and select Delete Volume. You can check the picture below for your reference.
   
   
   
   
4. You will receive a prompt, click on
   Yes. This will delete the volume allocated to the Virtual Hard Drive and the space allocated will now be turned into an
   Unallocated space.
   
5. To detach the Virtual Hard Drive completely,
   right-click on the Disk and select Detach VHD.
   
6. You will receive a prompt, you may click on the check box to
   Delete the virtual hard disk after removing the disk. Click on
   OK.
   

This will remove the Hyper-V Virtual Hard Drive partition from your system.

If the issue still persists, I would suggest you to post your query in IT Pro

TechNet forums, where we have support professionals who are well equipped with the knowledge on the issues with Hyper-V and Virtual Hard Drive to assist you with your query.

Regards,

Aaron Summith

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

Windows 10 Hyper-V with 4k Native Drives

Thanks but the answer to my question is not at the link you provided, Roberto. The hardware requirements listed for Windows 10 do not mention hard drives just as they didn't for Windows Server. Recall that Hyper-V did not work under Windows Server with
4kn drives (at least for a while). I will ask again, will Windows 10 Hyper-V work with 4k native drives? Thanks.

 

Moving Hyper-V to Another Disk

1. Export the virtual machines to the drive where you want to move them (tutorial).
2. When all VMs have been exported, delete them in Hyper-V Manager.
3. When Hyper-V Manager is empty, not showing any VMs, import the previously exported VMs (tutorial). In Option One Step 6 of the tutorial, you need to select Register the virtual machine in-place, or if choosing Option Two in tutorial, select Step 2.

Easy!