Warning
The VHD is only attached for the current session. When you
restart the computer, any attached VHD files you have will no longer be attached and appear in Computer. You will have to reattach any VHD file to have it display back in the Computer window again until the next restart.
If you disable the
Disk Defragmenter service, then you will get the error below when you try to do anything in Disk Management. If you get this error, then make sure that the
Disk Defragmenter service is set to only
Manual.
1. Open the
Control Panel (icons view).
A) Click on the Administrative Tools icon, and click on Computer Management.
B) Go to step 3.
OR
2. Open the Start Menu.
A) In the Search box, type compmgmt.msc and press Enter.
3. If prompted by
UAC, click on
Yes, then do either
step 4 or 5 below.
4. To Attach an Existing VHD File
NOTE: This is for a detached VHD file that you had already created in step 5 below, or from an existing VHD file.
A) In the left pane, right click on
Disk Management, and click on
Attach VHD. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You can also click on Disk Management, Action on the menu bar, and Attach VHD.
B) Click on the
Browse button. (See screenshot below)
C) Navigate to the VHD file location and select it, then click on the
Open button. (See screenshot below)
D) If you want the VHD to be
read-only, then check the box, otherwise leave it unchecked. Click on
OK. (See screenshot below)
E) If the existing VHD file is
unallocated, go to
step 6. (See screenshot below step 6A)
WARNING: Be sure to create a backup copy of the VHD file first to be safe in case of data loss.
F) If the existing VHD file is
allocated, go to
step 8. (See screenshot below step 8)
5. To Create and Attach a New Virtual Hard Disk (VHD file)
A) In the left pane, right click on
Disk Management, and click on
Create VHD. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You can also click on Disk Management, Action on the menu bar, and Create VHD.
B) Click on the
Browse button. (See screenshot below)
C) Navigate to the location you would like to store the new VHD file, type in a
name for the VHD file, and click on
Save. (See screenshot below)
D) Type in the maximum
size you want the Virtual Hard Disk to be, and select the size to be
MB,
GB, or
TB (1024 MB = 1 GB, 1024 GB = 1 TB). (See screenshot below)
E) Select (dot) if you want the new VHD size to be
Dynamic or
Fixed, and click on
OK. (See screenshot below)
F) Continue to
step 6.
6. To Initialize the Virtual Hard Disk
A) Right click on the new unallocated VHD
Disk # and click on
Initialize Disk. (See screenshot below)
B) Select (check) the
Disk # from above for the new VHD. Select (dot) if you want the new VHD to have a
MBR (Master Boot Record) or
GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition, and click on
OK. (See screenshot below)
C) Continue to
step 7.
7. To Create a New Simple Volume in the VHD
A) Right click on the new
unallocated VHD and click on
New Simple Volume. (See screenshot below)
B) Click on the
Next button. (See screenshot below)
C) Type in how much of the maximum disk space (step 5D) you want for the size of this VHD partition, and click on
Next. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you do not use the maximum space, then you will have a second unallocated VHD partition left with the remaining available disk space.
D) Select the file system (
NTFS or
FAT32) you want the VHD partition to be. (See screenshot below)
E) Type in a
name for the VHD to be displayed in Computer. (See screenshot below)
F) Check the
Perform a quick format box, and click on
Next. (See screenshot below)
G) Click on the
Finish button. (See screenshot below)
8. The VHD is now attached and ready to access like a HDD. (see screenshot below)
That's it,