If you’ve ever setup a windows server, specifically 2019, you might run into an issue when trying to create a Virtual Disk. I recently needed to create a Virtual Disk from a 47 TB Storage Pool and the GUI failed with a non-specific error message.
The GUI on 2019 at this point (2/1/2021) running all of the latest updates (version 1809) just dies when trying to create a Virtual Disk over 1 TB. I was able to make a small disk and expand it, but that seemed like a half solution.
The solution is to use PowerShell, which made me (a Linux guy) happy. Maybe you’re not a command line guru, but you don’t have to be. The following must be run from an Administrator PowerShell:
New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName [Name of your Storage Pool] -FriendlyName [Name of your new Virtual Disk] -ResiliencySettingName Parity -ProvisioningType Fixed -MediaType HDD -PhysicalDiskRedundancy 2 -UseMaximumSize- Remember to replace:
- “[Name of your Storage Pool]” with the actual name of your storage pool
- “[Name of your new Virtual Disk]” with the actual name you want to call your new disk
The “-UseMaximumSize” flag will fill up your entire Storage Pool with your new Virtual Disk. That’s it!
If your new disk doesn’t automatically show up in server manager, refresh the view.
If you can’t format your new disk, go to Computer Management > Disk Management. Then right click on the disk with a red down arrow and click “Online” then do the same things again and click “Initialize”. Now you should be able to format it.