Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10  

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10

    How to Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Virtualization
    23 Apr 2021
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10


    VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) is a file format which represents a virtual hard disk drive (HDD). It may contain what is found on a physical HDD, such as disk partitions and a file system, which in turn can contain files and folders. It is typically used as the hard disk of a virtual machine.

    VHDX is a Hyper-V virtual hard disk file format. VHDX has a much larger 64 TB storage capacity than the older VHD format 2TB limit. It also provides data corruption protection during power failures and optimizes structural alignments of dynamic and differencing disks to prevent performance degradation on new, large-sector physical disks.

    You can choose to have a fixed size or dynamically expanding VHD or VHDX file.
    • Fixed size = This type of disk provides better performance. The virtual hard disk file is allocated to its maximum size when the virtual hard disk is created.
    • Dynamically expanding = This type of disk provides better use of physical storage space. The virtual hard disk file grows to its maximum size as data is written to the virtual hard disk.

    Once you have the new .vhd or .vhdx file created and setup, you can copy or move it to any Windows 10 PC you want to mount it on.

    When you mount a .vhd or .vhdx file in Windows, it will be added as a drive in This PC to open it from.

    This tutorial will show you how to create and set up (initialized and formatted) a new VHD and VHDX virtual hard disk file in Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to create and set up a VHD and VHDX file.



    Contents

    • Option One: Create New VHD or VHDX file in Disk Management
    • Option Two: Create New VHD or VHDX file in Hyper-V Manager
    • Option Three: Create New VHD or VHDX file in PowerShell
    • Option Four: Create New VHD or VHDX file in Command Prompt
    • Option Five: Set Up New VHD or VHDX file in Disk Management
    • Option Six: Set Up New VHD or VHDX file in Command Prompt or PowerShell






    OPTION ONE

    Create New VHD or VHDX file in Disk Management


    1 Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

    2 Click/tap on Action in the menu bar, and click/tap on Create VHD. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_disk_management-1.jpg

    3 Click/tap on the Browse button. (see screenshots below)

    4 Navigate to and select and open the location (folder or drive) where you want to create and save the .vhd or .vhdx file at, type a file name you want, and click/tap on Save.

    5 Enter a size (ex: "1 GB") you want for the virtual hard disk.

    6 Select (dot) VHD or VHDX for what virtual hard disk format you want.

    7 Select (dot) Fixed size or Dynamically expanding for the virtual hard disk type you want.

    8 Click/tap on OK.

    9 Do Option Five (Disk Management) or Option Six (command) for how you would like to set up this new .vhd or .vhdx file.

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_disk_management-2.jpg






    OPTION TWO

    Create New VHD or VHDX file in Hyper-V Manager


    1 Open Hyper-V Manager (virtmgmt.msc).

    2 Click/tap on a virtual machine server (ex: "BRINKW10DESKTOP") in the left pane, click/tap on New in the Actions right pane and click/tap on Hard Disk. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-1.jpg

    3 Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-2.png

    4 Select (dot) VHD or VHDX for what virtual hard disk format you want, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-3.png

    5 Select (dot) Fixed size or Dynamically expanding for the virtual hard disk type you want, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-4.png

    6 Enter a name you want for the .vhd or .vhdx file, browse to and select the location for where you want to create and save the .vhd or .vhdx file at, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-5.png

    7 Select (dot) Create a new blank virtual hard disk, enter a size (ex: "1 GB") you want for the virtual hard disk, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-6.png

    8 Verify everything is correct, and click/tap on Finish when ready. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_hyper-v_manager-7.png

    9 Do Option Five (Disk Management) or Option Six (command) for how you would like to set up this new .vhd or .vhdx file.






    OPTION THREE

    Create New VHD or VHDX file in PowerShell


    For more details and usage options for the New-VHD cmdlet, see: New-VHD | Microsoft Docs

    This command is only available after installing the Hyper-V Management Tools or Hyper-V feature.


    1 Open an elevated PowerShell.

    2 Type the command below for what type of .vhd or .vhdx file you want to create into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    (create new fixed VHD or VHDX file)
    New-VHD -Path "Full path of .vhd or .vhdx location" -Fixed -SizeBytes <size>

    OR

    (create new dynamic VHD or VHDX file)
    New-VHD -Path "Full path of .vhd or .vhdx location" -Dynamic -SizeBytes <size>


    Substitute Full path of .vhd or .vhdx file in the command above with the actual full path of the .vhd or .vhdx file for where you want to create and save it at.

    Substitute <size> in the command above with the maximum size (ex: "1GB") you want for the .vhd or .vhdx file. This can be expressed as in MB, GB, or TB.

    For example: New-VHD -Path "D:\VHD\Example.vhdx" -Fixed -SizeBytes 1GB


    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_powershell.png


    3 Do Option Five (Disk Management) or Option Six (command) for how you would like to set up this new .vhd or .vhdx file.






    OPTION FOUR

    Create New VHD or VHDX file in Command Prompt


    For more details and usage options for the create vdisk command, see: Create vdisk | Microsoft Docs


    1 Open an elevated command prompt.

    2 Type diskpart into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    3 Type the command below for what type of .vhd or .vhdx file you want to create into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter.

    (create new fixed VHD or VHDX file)
    create vdisk file="Full path of .vhd or .vhdx location" maximum=<size> type=fixed

    OR

    (create new dynamic VHD or VHDX file)
    create vdisk file="Full path of .vhd or .vhdx location" maximum=<size> type=expandable


    Substitute Full path of .vhd or .vhdx file in the command above with the actual full path of the .vhd or .vhdx file for where you want to create and save it at.

    Substitute <size> in the command above with the maximum size (ex: "1024") in megabytes (1GB = 1024MB) you want for the .vhd or .vhdx file.

    For example: create vdisk file="D:\VHD\Example.vhdx" maximum=1024 type=fixed


    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-create_vhd_in_command_prompt.png


    4 Do Option Five (Disk Management) or Option Six (command) for how you would like to set up this new .vhd or .vhdx file.






    OPTION FIVE

    Set Up New VHD or VHDX file in Disk Management


    1 Open the new blank .vhd or .vhdx file created using Option One (Disk Management), Option Two (Hyper-V Manager), Option Three (PowerShell), or Option Four (command prompt). (see screenshot below)

    This will add the new virtual hard disk as an unknown (not initialized) unallocated disk in Disk Management.


    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-open_vhd-1.jpg

    2 Click/tap on OK in the Couldn't Mount File error message. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-open_vhd-2.png

    3 Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

    4 Right click on the unknown disk (ex: "Disk 3") for the unallocated virtual hard disk, and click/tap on Initialize Disk. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-1.png

    5 In the Initialize Disk dialog, select (dot) MBR or GPT for the partition style you want for virtual hard disk, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-2.png

    6 In the Disk Management, right click or press and hold on the unallocated disk for the virtual hard disk, and click/tap on New Simple Volume. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-3.png

    7 In the New Simple Volume Wizard dialog, click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-4.png

    8 Make sure the Simple volume size is the same size as Maximum disk space (ex: 1021), and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-5.png

    9 Select (dot) Assign the following drive letter, select a drive letter (ex: "F") you want in the drop menu for the virtual hard disk, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    If you only want to set up the virtual hard disk without mounting it right now, you can select (dot) Do not assign a drive letter or drive path instead.


    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-6.png

    10 Select (dot) Format this volume with the following settings, select the file system (ex: NTFS) you want for the virtual hard disk, type a volume label (ex: "Example VHD") you want for the mounted virtual hard disk name, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-7.png

    11 Click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_disk_management-8.png

    12 You can now close Disk Management if you like. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-mounted_vhd-1.jpg

    13 You can now mount and unmount this .vhd or .vhdx file on any Windows 10 PC you like. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-mounted_vhd-2.jpg






    OPTION SIX

    Set Up New VHD or VHDX file in Command Prompt or PowerShell


    1 Open an elevated command prompt or elevated PowerShell console window.

    2 Type diskpart into the console window, and press Enter. (see screenshot below step 8)

    3 Type the command below, and press Enter.

    select vdisk file="Full path of .vhd or .vhdx location"

    Substitute Full path of .vhd or .vhdx file in the command above with the actual full path of the .vhd or .vhdx file location.

    For example: select vdisk file="D:\VHD\Example.vhdx"



    4 Copy and paste attach vdisk into the console window, and press Enter.

    5 Copy and paste create partition primary into the console window, and press Enter.

    6 Type the command below for the file system and friendly name you want for the virtual hard disk, and press Enter.

    (To format virtual hard disk with FAT file system)
    format fs=FAT label="FriendlyName" quick

    OR

    (To format virtual hard disk with FAT32 file system)
    format fs=FAT32 label="FriendlyName" quick

    OR

    (To format virtual hard disk with NTFS file system)
    format fs=NTFS label="FriendlyName" quick


    Substitute Friendly Name in the command above with what you want for the mounted virtual hard disk name.

    For example: format fs=NTFS label="Example VHDX" quick



    7 Type the command below for the drive letter you want assigned to the virtual hard disk, and press Enter.

    (To let Windows automatically assign an available drive letter to virtual hard disk)
    assign

    OR

    (To assign a specific drive letter to virtual hard disk)
    assign letter=<Drive Letter>


    Substitute <Drive Letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "F") you want assigned to this mounted virtual hard disk.

    For example: assign letter=F



    8 You can now close the console window if you like. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-setup_vhd_in_command_prompt.png

    9 You can now mount and unmount this .vhd or .vhdx file on any Windows 10 PC you like. (see screenshot below)

    Create and Set Up New VHD or VHDX File in Windows 10-mounted_vhd-2.jpg


    That's it,
    Shawn


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  2. hsehestedt
    Posts : 4,187
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       New #1

    One handy use for a virtual disk is to fool certain programs that don't want to work with external drives, such as flash drives.

    As an example, when manipulating Windows images using the Microsoft DISM tool, it doesn't want to write to a flash drive. You could create a virtual disk on the flash drive and then tell DISM to use that virtual disk as the destination and it will work.

    That may not be a great example as you would typically just use a HD, but it does illustrate the point of the trick .
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