Expanding VHD files with VHD Utility

I'm working quite a lot with Virtual PC and Virtual Server. And who isn't?

When ever I need to test something for my self or for a client; If I want to create a POC, or a demo. Virtual machine is a perfect solution.

When I was working on the Accessibility Open House, I created a VPC to demonstrate some of the topics I was talking about. However, while working, I run out of space in my VPC drive. That was a very frustrating situation. Here I was, with almost everything installed, and I can't install the last piece of software I need.

I've searched the net to find a solution, and found a nice little utility called "VHD Utility" by Xtralogic.

This little application, once installed, adds an item to the context menu of a VHD file. Right clicking the file, when the VPC is off, gives you a new item "Expand VHD".

Choosing this menu item, will start a wizard, which ultimately allows you to expand that VHD (it doesn't matter it the VHD is a dynamic or fixed size):

Besides the wizard, the utility also supports command line operation:

I've added it to my "Path" environment settings, and I'm working with it from the command prompt very comfortably.

The free version (the trial, actually) can only expand your VHD 1GB (And no, this isn't 1GB at the time, but 1GB and that's it). For me it was perfect at the time, because that was exactly what I was missing.

I choose to buy the full version (only 25$,Less then a 100NIS), which allows me some more freedom.