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How to Increase Virtual Machine Disk Space Without Rebooting

by Simon Sparks · 7 March 2026

This procedure works on Fedora based Linux distributions e.g. Fedora, CentOS, Rocky, Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Login to vCenter UI, find the virtual machine you need to increase the disk space of and change the hard disk size and units to your desired size.

vCenter – Virtual Machine – Edit Settings

Command Line: Check the current physical disk layout.

lsblk
Bash

Result: There is only 1 physical disk labelled SDA with a size of 900GB.

NAMEMAJ:MINRMSIZEROTYPEMOUNTPOINTS
sda8:00900G0disk
├─sda18:10600M0part/boot/efi
├─sda28:201G0part/boot
└─sda38:30898.4G0part
├─rl-root253:00896.4G0lvm/
└─rl-swap253:102G0lvm  [SWAP]
sr011:011024M0rom
Bash

Command Line: Scan the physical disk labelled SDA for any changes.

echo1>/sys/block/sda/device/rescan
Bash

Result: This command does not have any output.

# NO OUTPUT
Bash

Command Line: Check the current physical disk layout.

lsblk
Bash

Result: Notice that SDA now shows as been a physical disk with a size of 1.2TB.

NAMEMAJ:MINRMSIZEROTYPEMOUNTPOINTS
sda8:001.2T0disk
├─sda18:10600M0part/boot/efi
├─sda28:201G0part/boot
└─sda38:30898.4G0part
├─rl-root253:00896.4G0lvm/
└─rl-swap253:102G0lvm  [SWAP]
sr011:011024M0rom
Bash

Command Line: Use Dandified YUM to install the package.

dnfinstallcloud-utils-growpart
Bash

Result: Dandified YUM has installed the package.

Lastmetadataexpirationcheck:2:17:26agoonTueMar308:25:222026.
Dependenciesresolved.
=======================================================================================================================================================================================
PackageArchitectureVersionRepositorySize
=======================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
cloud-utils-growpartx86_640.33-1.el9appstream34k

TransactionSummary
=======================================================================================================================================================================================
Install1Package

Totaldownloadsize:34k
Installedsize:75k
Isthisok [y/N]: y
DownloadingPackages:
cloud-utils-growpart-0.33-1.el9.x86_64.rpm286kB/s|34kB00:00
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total115kB/s|34kB00:00
Runningtransactioncheck
Transactionchecksucceeded.
Runningtransactiontest
Transactiontestsucceeded.
Runningtransaction
Preparing:1/1
Installing:cloud-utils-growpart-0.33-1.el9.x86_641/1
Runningscriptlet:cloud-utils-growpart-0.33-1.el9.x86_641/1
Verifying:cloud-utils-growpart-0.33-1.el9.x86_641/1
Installedproductsupdated.

Installed:
cloud-utils-growpart-0.33-1.el9.x86_64

Complete!
Bash

Command Line: Use the growpart utility to run a dry run of the process to extend partition number 3 of the physical disk labelled SDA.

growpart/dev/sda3--dry-run
Bash

Result: The growpart utility dry run process reports the actions it will take when it is not used in dry run mode.

CHANGE:partition=3start=3328000old:size=1884108767end=1887436766new:size=2513254367end=2516582366
# === old sfdisk -d ===
label:gpt
label-id:ED0A7588-2032-4DE4-8360-6B569C854D64
device:/dev/sda
unit:sectors
first-lba:34
sector-size:512

/dev/sda1:start=2048,size=1228800,type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B,uuid=02E74B9C-1704-4FEE-8F16-32FAB02CB10A,name="EFI System Partition"
/dev/sda2:start=1230848,size=2097152,type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4,uuid=64C2B81A-9613-4DD6-8D87-C3D75CD4D81D
/dev/sda3:start=3328000,size=1884108767,type=E6D6D379-F507-44C2-A23C-238F2A3DF928,uuid=80C9D957-0D30-42C0-A603-D9078982485D
# === new sfdisk -d ===
label:gpt
label-id:ED0A7588-2032-4DE4-8360-6B569C854D64
device:/dev/sda
unit:sectors
first-lba:34
sector-size:512

/dev/sda1:start=2048,size=1228800,type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B,uuid=02E74B9C-1704-4FEE-8F16-32FAB02CB10A,name="EFI System Partition"
/dev/sda2:start=1230848,size=2097152,type=0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4,uuid=64C2B81A-9613-4DD6-8D87-C3D75CD4D81D
/dev/sda3:start=3328000,size=2513254367,type=E6D6D379-F507-44C2-A23C-238F2A3DF928,uuid=80C9D957-0D30-42C0-A603-D9078982485D
Bash

Command Line: Use the growpart utility to run the process to extend partition number 3 of the physical disk labelled SDA.

growpart/dev/sda3
Bash

Result: The growpart utility process reports the actions has taken.

CHANGED:partition=3start=3328000old:size=1884108767end=1887436766new:size=2513254367end=2516582366
Bash

Command Line: Check the current physical disk layout.

lsblk
Bash

Result: Notice that SDA partition 3 now shows as being a size of 1.2TB.

NAMEMAJ:MINRMSIZEROTYPEMOUNTPOINTS
sda8:001.2T0disk
├─sda18:10600M0part/boot/efi
├─sda28:201G0part/boot
└─sda38:301.2T0part
├─rl-root253:00896.4G0lvm/
└─rl-swap253:102G0lvm  [SWAP]
sr011:011024M0rom
Bash

Command Line: Run the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) physical volume display command.

pvdisplay
Bash

Result: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) displays the physical volumes.

---Physicalvolume---
PVName/dev/sda3
VGNamerl
PVSize1.17TiB/notusable1.98MiB
Allocatableyes
PESize4.00MiB
TotalPE306793
FreePE76800
AllocatedPE229993
PVUUIDsbrOJO-Ctwi-z7PT-Fta9-T8V8-Ubxi-Oob3G4
Bash

Command Line: Run the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) logical volume display command.

lvdisplay
Bash

Result: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) displays the logical volumes.

---Logicalvolume---
LVPath/dev/rl/swap
LVNameswap
VGNamerl
LVUUIDItRBdl-lcWU-SGQ1-sgBm-aOsH-dfVL-1Lud3B
LVWriteAccessread/write
LVCreationhost,timerocky-9.cloudbuildtools.com,2023-03-2612:17:46+0100
LVStatusavailable
# open                 2
LVSize2.00GiB
CurrentLE512
Segments1
Allocationinherit
Readaheadsectorsauto
-currentlysetto256
Blockdevice253:1

---Logicalvolume---
LVPath/dev/rl/root
LVNameroot
VGNamerl
LVUUIDkGDYqY-Pwvw-8dR0-JIna-BZNC-eSNh-euFOPk
LVWriteAccessread/write
LVCreationhost,timerocky-9.cloudbuildtools.com,2023-03-2612:17:46+0100
LVStatusavailable
# open                 1
LVSize896.41GiB
CurrentLE229481
Segments1
Allocationinherit
Readaheadsectorsauto
-currentlysetto256
Blockdevice253:0
Bash

Command Line: Run the Disk Free command with some additional parameters.

df--print-type--total--human-readable
Bash

Result: The Disk Free command reports the current state of the filesystem.

FilesystemTypeSizeUsedAvailUse%Mountedon
devtmpfsdevtmpfs4.0M04.0M0%/dev
tmpfstmpfs1.8G01.8G0%/dev/shm
tmpfstmpfs731M8.8M723M2%/run
efivarfsefivarfs256K43K209K17%/sys/firmware/efi/efivars
/dev/mapper/rl-rootxfs897G606G291G68%/
/dev/sda2xfs1014M423M592M42%/boot
/dev/sda1vfat599M7.1M592M2%/boot/efi
tmpfstmpfs366M0366M0%/run/user/0
total-900G609G593G51%-
Bash

Command Line: Run the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) logical volume extend command.

lvextend--resizefs--extents+100%FREE/dev/rl/root
Bash

Result: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) logical volume extend command completes the partition extension and also resizes the filesystem.

Filesystemxfsfoundonrl/rootmountedat/.
Sizeoflogicalvolumerl/rootchangedfrom896.41GiB (229481extents) to<1.17 TiB(306281extents).
Extendingfilesystemxfsto<1.17TiB (1284635623424bytes) on rl/root...
xfs_growfs/dev/rl/root
meta-data=/dev/mapper/rl-rootisize=512agcount=219,agsize=1075456blks
         =sectsz=512attr=2,projid32bit=1
         =crc=1finobt=1,sparse=1,rmapbt=0
         =reflink=1bigtime=1inobtcount=1nrext64=0
data=bsize=4096blocks=234988544,imaxpct=25
         =sunit=0swidth=0blks
naming=version2bsize=4096ascii-ci=0,ftype=1
log=internallogbsize=4096blocks=2560,version=2
         =sectsz=512sunit=0blks,lazy-count=1
realtime=noneextsz=4096blocks=0,rtextents=0
datablockschangedfrom234988544to313631744
xfs_growfsdone
Extendedfilesystemxfsonrl/root.
Logicalvolumerl/rootsuccessfullyresized.
Bash

Command Line: Run the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) logical volume display command.

lvdisplay
Bash

Result: The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) displays the logical volumes.

---Logicalvolume---
LVPath/dev/rl/swap
LVNameswap
VGNamerl
LVUUIDItRBdl-lcWU-SGQ1-sgBm-aOsH-dfVL-1Lud3B
LVWriteAccessread/write
LVCreationhost,timerocky-9.cloudbuildtools.com,2023-03-2612:17:46+0100
LVStatusavailable
# open                 2
LVSize2.00GiB
CurrentLE512
Segments1
Allocationinherit
Readaheadsectorsauto
-currentlysetto256
Blockdevice253:1

---Logicalvolume---
LVPath/dev/rl/root
LVNameroot
VGNamerl
LVUUIDkGDYqY-Pwvw-8dR0-JIna-BZNC-eSNh-euFOPk
LVWriteAccessread/write
LVCreationhost,timerocky-9.cloudbuildtools.com,2023-03-2612:17:46+0100
LVStatusavailable
# open                 1
LVSize<1.17TiB
CurrentLE306281
Segments1
Allocationinherit
Readaheadsectorsauto
-currentlysetto256
Blockdevice253:0
Bash

Command Line: Run the Disk Free command with some additional parameters.

df--print-type--total--human-readable
Bash

Result: The Disk Free command reports the current state of the filesystem.

FilesystemTypeSizeUsedAvailUse%Mountedon
devtmpfsdevtmpfs4.0M04.0M0%/dev
tmpfstmpfs1.8G01.8G0%/dev/shm
tmpfstmpfs731M8.8M723M2%/run
efivarfsefivarfs256K43K209K17%/sys/firmware/efi/efivars
/dev/mapper/rl-rootxfs1.2T608G589G51%/
/dev/sda2xfs1014M423M592M42%/boot
/dev/sda1vfat599M7.1M592M2%/boot/efi
tmpfstmpfs366M0366M0%/run/user/0
total-1.2T609G593G51%-
Bash

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