If you no longer need a virtual machine and want to free up space on the datastore, you can remove the virtual machine from vCenter Server and delete all virtual machine files from the datastore, including the configuration file and virtual disk files.

Prerequisites

  • Power off the virtual machine.
  • Ensure that another virtual machine is not sharing the disk. If two virtual machines are sharing the same disk, the disk files are not deleted.

Procedure

  1. Right-click the virtual machine and select All vCenter Actions > Delete from Disk.
  2. Click OK.

Results

vCenter Server deletes the virtual machine from its datastore. Disks that are shared with other virtual machines are not deleted.