You can use VMware Remote Console to add a new virtual hard disk to a virtual machine.

Note: This function is not available in macOS.

Procedure

  1. Access the target virtual machine in VMware Remote Console.
  2. If you want to add an IDE hard disk, power off the virtual machine.
    Note: Adding an IDE hard disk is not supported in Linux. The VMware Remote Console Linux client cannot perform operations on powered-off virtual machines.
  3. Open the virtual machine settings in VMware Remote Console.
    • On Windows, select VMRC > Manage > Virtual Machine Settings.
    • On Linux, select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings.
  4. On the Hardware tab, click Add to start the Add Hardware Wizard.
  5. Select Hard Disk and click Next.
  6. Select the desired hard disk type and click Next.
    Option Description

    IDE

    Create an IDE device. This option is available only on powered-off virtual machines.

    SCSI

    Create a SCSI device.

    SATA

    Create a SATA device.

    NVMe

    Create an NVMe device.
  7. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next.
  8. Set the capacity for the new virtual hard disk.
  9. Specify additional hard disk options.
    Option Description

    Allocate all disk space now

    Allocating all disk space when you create the virtual hard disk can enhance performance, but it requires all physical disk space to be available now. If you do not select this setting, the virtual disk starts small and expands as you add data to it.

    Store virtual disk as a single file

    Select this option to store the virtual disk as a single file.

    Split virtual disk into multiple files

    Select this option to split the virtual disk into multiple files. Splitting the disk makes it easier to move the virtual machine to another computer but may reduce performance with large disks.

    Note: Creating split virtual disks for remote virtual machines is not supported.
  10. Enter a path and filename for the virtual disk file.
  11. Click Finish.

Results

The wizard creates the new virtual hard disk. The disk appears to the guest operating system as a new, blank hard disk.