Extend Windows C: Drive After VM Disk Resize | Remove & Rebuild WinRE

Published 04/08/2026

Description

Your Windows C: drive may still be impossible to extend after increasing the virtual disk size of a Windows Server or Windows virtual machine. Contents: 0:00 - Introduction 0:20 - Description 2:04 - The Problem 2:41 - The Solution 8:00 - Conclusion The reason is often the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) partition sitting directly behind the C: partition. Windows Disk Management detects the new unallocated space, but it cannot extend C: when the recovery partition is located between C: and that free space. This tutorial is useful if you are using: Check the current Windows Recovery Environment configuration Temporarily disable WinRE Use DiskPart to identify and remove the old recovery partition Extend the Windows C: drive into the newly available disk space Keep enough unallocated space for a new recovery partition Recreate and format a new WinRE recovery partition Copy the Windows recovery image to the new partition Re-enable Windows Recovery Environment Verify that WinRE is active again This is useful after expanding a virtual disk in Hyper-V, VMware, Proxmox, or another hypervisor. It also applies to physical Windows installations where the recovery partition prevents the C: drive from expanding. The process uses Windows built-in administration tools, including Disk Management, DiskPart, and ReAgentC. The key point is to avoid consuming all newly added space: leave sufficient capacity to rebuild the Windows Recovery partition before enabling WinRE again. If you have ever increased a VM disk and wondered why Windows still refuses to extend C:, this walkthrough shows the complete recovery-partition workaround. #WindowsServer #HyperV #Virtualization Follow me on X: https://l.samayas.eu/jo3eaYEf3E?P=YT&V=148 Buy me a Coffee : https://l.samayas.eu/jX6xL7EWhd?P=YT&V=148 Studio Equipment Camera Sony Alpha ZV-E10 II: https://l.samayas.eu/k7y95TREl0?P=YT&V=148 Secondary Camera Obsbot Tail Air: https://l.samayas