We all have physical hard drives partitioned in our system. So how does a VHD (virtual hard drive) differ from a physical hard drive? Here it is. Virtual hard disks are mainly used as hard disks for virtual machines. They completely mimic what our computer hard drives have. Virtual hard disks also have the same directory structure consisting of files, folders, and disk partitions. If you have the same build, you may be wondering why you would need a separate VHD. yes Microsoft has rolled out such a feature, so there has to be something special.
VHDs can be easily backed up and allow you to create dynamic volumes, so there is no need to fully allocate disk spaces. Actually, you don't need to partition your hard drive for this purpose and can be accessed easily via local networks. Additionally, once you have created a dynamic virtual hard disk and installed an operating system, you have options for dual booting. As they are dynamic, it doesn't take up much space for them and what's more, all the space can be reclaimed once the CAB VHD file is deleted.
Feel like creating one for yourself? Let me tell you the steps to create a VHD.
Steps to create a virtual hard drive in Windows 10
STEP 1 - Open the file Management tools application on your Windows 10 by typing its name in the search bar.
STEP 2 - Once opened in the file Control Panel, towards the right panel you will find an option titled IT management shortcut. Double click on it.
STEP 3: Expand the option named Storage located in the left pane of the window that opens. You will find an option called Disk management. Right click on it and choose the option Create VHD.
STEP 4 - Once this is done, you will find a window called Create and connect VHDs to appear. You will find a text box below the option Location.
Click the Browse button and choose the location where you want to store the VHD file.
Now choose a folder where you want to store the VHD file.
You can also choose the size of the VHD by changing the number next to Virtual hard disk size. The default size will be set in GB. You can change it to MB (megabytes) or TB (terabytes) if needed.
Note: - You must have 1 GB of free space on the drive where the VHD folder is stored if you choose 1 GB as the virtual hard disk size.
Also, you have two options to create a virtual hard drive: -
- Fixed size (allocates a fixed virtual hard disk size of your choice)
- Dynamic expansion (does not instantly assign the chosen size, but continues to increase in size up to the allocated size as it increases in size).
In my case, I chose the path “S: syslab vhd.vhd” to store the corresponding VHD file and set its size to 1GB.
STEP 5 - Choose the option Dynamic expansion or fixed size as the virtual hard disk type and click the OK button.
STEP 6 - Once you have performed the above steps, you will find the virtual hard drive created, towards the right of the window. Right click on it and choose the option Initialize. This helps you to create new disk volumes.
Note: - We recommend that you choose MBR (Master Boot Record).
STEP 7: Click OK on the warning message that appears. Go back to the created disk, right click and choose the option New simple volume.
The Simple Volume Wizard opens and you will need to click the Next button to change the Settings.
STEP 8 - Select the volume size you want and click again The next I chose the option configured by default.
STEP 9 - In the next window that appears, choose the drive letter with which you can name the volume. Once you're done, choose the file The next button.
I have chosen to name the unit as P.
STEP 10 - In the rest of the windows, continue clicking the Next button to access the default options.
Choose to format the new partition.
Finally, click on the file To finish in the last window of the Simple Volume wizard.
STEP 11: You will find the new VHD created in the Disk Management utility and the same will be evident in File Explorer as well. Now, you are completely done with the whole creation process.
STEP 12 - Whenever you want to unmount the drive and reclaim system memory space, right-click the newly created virtual hard drive in the file explorer. Click the Eject option. The VHD will now be removed.
I hope you found this article helpful. Try it.!
