How to resize partition via command line?

Question

I have Ubuntu installed on a VirtualBox VM. How can I resize the Linux partition (not the virtual drive)?

I already performed the VM resize using VBoxManage modifyhd to resize the virtual drive, but I need to resize the Linux partition. I do not have a GUI to gparted, so I need to resize the partition from the command line.

Solution

If you use LVM (Logical Volume Manager):

1. Expand physical volume (sda3 replace by your partition name):

   sudo pvresize /dev/sda3

2. Check free space:

   sudo vgdisplay

3. Add space to logical volume (VG00/share replace by your LV name):

   sudo lvresize –L -r 100G VG00/share

4. Check changes:

   sudo lvdisplay

If you don't use LVM:

All below commands work for unmounted partition, so you should boot from another source, for example, from iso (liveCD image).

1. Change partition size: sudo fdisk /dev/sda3:

• remove old partition (d)
• create new one, bigger (n)
• write changes (w)

2. Expand file system:

   sudo e2fsck -f /dev/sda3 sudo resize2fs /dev/sda3

3. Reboot system, boot as usual.

4. Check partitions:

   df