How to expand Ubuntu disk inside Virtual Machines

For two times in my life I struggled to find a way to increase Ubuntu LVM disk size inside virtual machines (Hyper-V and WSL2). Maybe these solution works for you.

If your df -h command is resulting a 100% use like this picture, you should try this article.

TL;DR

$ sudo lvmdiskscan
$ sudo growpart /dev/sda 3
$ sudo pvresize /dev/sda3
$ sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv
$ sudo resize2fs /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv
$ df -h

1. If you have a Hyper-V virtual machine (maybe also applicable to VirtualBox or VMware)

Increase the physical disk file (VHDX or VDI)

In Hyper-V, follow these steps:

1. Shutdown the virtual machine
2. In Hyper-V Manager go to Settings → select the hard drive → Edit. If this option is disabled, delete any checkpoints for the VM.
3. Select the Expand operation and increase to a desirable size.
4. Turn on the VM again and follow the next step

Find your /sda/dev device

1. Inside VM’s terminal, find the right /sda/dev device with command:

$ sudo lvmdiskscan

The result is something like this:

You are looking to device at the first column where the third column is named “LVM physical volume”. Note down the number after “/dev/sda” (in this example is “3”.

2. Run the following commands replacing the device number you found above:

$ sudo growpart /dev/sda 3
$ sudo pvresize /dev/sda3

I think growpart is a CLI from cloud-guest-utils. So, maybe you need sudo apt install cloud-guest-utils first.

Now follow the steps below.

2. If you already had increased physical disk space OR you have a WSL2 subsystem

Run the commands:

$ sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv
$ sudo resize2fs /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv

Now list storage devices again and be happy 😛

$ df -h