How to Remove a VHD from a Virtual Machine?

Read time 6 minutes

The article you are about to read serves as a helpful guide, offering practical solutions for safely removing or detaching a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) from a Windows PC.

A Virtual Hard Disk, often referred to as a VHD, functions as a versatile portable storage medium that users can create on a virtual machine or a PC drive. It simulates the characteristics of a physical drive, complete with partitions and file systems for data storage. Beyond its primary role as a data repository, a VHD can serve various other purposes, including image management, backup, recovery, and seamless data transfer.

Occasionally, after creating a VHD file and using it for its intended purpose, you may find it unnecessary and wish to reclaim the storage space it occupies. In such instances, you can explore the methods detailed here to effectively remove the VHD from your computer system.

Methods to delete VHD from Computer System

• Through Command Prompt
• Through Disk Management Console

This method entails detaching the Virtual Hard Disk from your system using CMD commands. Let’s delve into this process with a comprehensive breakdown of the steps involved.

1. Search for Command Prompt application by typing cmd, right-click on it, and select Run as administrator option.
2. Click Yes to continue.
3. In the opened Command Prompt screen, run diskpart command to reach the disk partition mode.
4. Next run the command is to select the VHD file for further action.
   select vdisk file= “<enter VHD file path location>”

   

5. Now, detach this VHD file from the disk location using this command.
   detach vdisk

   

6. Finally, exit the Command Prompt window using the exit command.
   exit

   

7. Hence, the VHD file is successfully detached from the disk partition.

Through Disk Management Console

As an alternative approach for removing the VHD file from your system, this method leverages the Disk Management Console, offering a simpler and more user-friendly execution. Follow the straightforward steps outlined below to accomplish this task effortlessly.

1. In Start, go to your PC icon, right-click on it, and select Manage option.Note: You can use the Run box (Windows + R) to open the Computer Management page by typing diskmgmt.msc and clicking OK.
2. On the Computer Management page, go to Storage and select the Disk Management option. Here, you can view the disk drives and VHDs.
3. Select the VHD drive which you want to delete, right-click and then click Delete Volume option.
4. A notification for confirmation appears. Click Yes to continue.
5. Next, you will find the status of VHD disk is changed from Online to Unallocated. You still need to detach the VHD to completely remove it from the Disk Management system. Right-click the VHD disk icon and select Detach VHD option to detach the VHD file.
6. Finally, the VHD file is removed from the system drive.

Feel free to choose any of the methods outlined above to remove VHD files from your system drive. By doing so, you can easily eliminate unwanted VHD files and free up valuable storage space as needed.

In situations where you encounter difficulties accessing VHD/VHDX files, whether due to corruption or other issues, there is a reliable solution available: the Kernel for VHD Recovery tool. This powerful tool is designed to recover data from any VHD or VHDX file, displaying its contents and allowing users to save the recovered data to a location of their choice. To learn more about this advanced tool, you can visit the website and explore the demo version for a firsthand experience of its capabilities.