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Monday, June 18, 2012

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error when resizing Parallels disk

You can't actually re-size a disk using Parallels. At least, not a plain disk, and not using Parallels Desktop 7. It will cause windows to be unbootable, showing the blue screen of death error "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME". What you have to do is un-check the "Resize file system" checkbox (Parallels VM configuration), and then make your change (assuming you are making it bigger). That will add unallocated space to your virtual disk. When in windows, you partition and format the space in the Disk Manager->Storage. Give it a drive letter and everything. You then use a partition manager tool like "EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition" (free) to merge the two partitions. Pretty risky, so be sure you have your whole VM backed up.