Automatically Attach VHD Images [Windows 7]

The Windows 7 operating system comes with the option to create virtual hard drive [vhd] images that can be mounted in the operating system after creation. This works pretty much the same way that iso images and other disk images can be mounted in an operating system. VHD images are automatically attached after their creation but never again automatically after the computer system has been rebooted. This is a nuisance for users who need to work regularly with the same vhd image on the computer system.

An easy option to automatically attach vhd images is to use the diskpart command line utility which is part of the Windows 7 operating system. Diskpart is a powerful tool to enable storage configuration from the command line (as well as remote sessions and scripts).

Diskpart can be lauched manually by typing in diskpart in the run box in the Windows 7 start menu. This will open a new command line window with Diskpart launched.

The first command specifies the vhd image that should be attached to Windows 7:

select vdisk file=c:\pathtovhdfile

The second command attaches the specified vhd image

attach vdisk

This is the manual process. To automate the process of attaching a vhd to the system do the following. Create a new text document and place the two lines mentioned above in it. You can add those two lines again for every vhd image that should be automatically mounted during system start. Save the file as vhdattach.s

Create a new text document and add the following line to it.

diskpart -s “c:\pathtovhdattach.s”

Rename the text document to diskpart.cmd and place this file in the startup folder in the Windows start menu. Diskpart.cmd will be executed on startup of the operating system. It will process the commands in vhdattach in diskpart so that the vhd images will be attached to the system.

It might be necessary on the first run to go into the disk management tool to format the vhd drives in Windows so that drive letters are assigned to them. The Disk Management tool can also be used to detach vhd images.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday January 14, 2010 -
Tags:attach vhd, diskpart, mount vhd, vhd, vhd images, windows 7, windows tips

Responses so far:

1. Kendall says:

   January 21, 2011 at 4:29 am

   I made a program that will attach VHD automatically on startup.

   Reply
2. Chad Krause says:

   August 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm

   Whenever I do it, an error occurs.

   DiskPart has encountered an error: The file or directory is corrupted and unable. See the System Event Log for more information. There is no virtual disk selected.

   Reply
3. Mark says:

   September 1, 2011 at 12:34 pm

   Thank you! Though you need quotes around the select vdisk statement:
   select vdisk file=”C:\Virtual Drives\dirvex.vhd”

   Reply
   • Martin Brinkmann says:

     September 1, 2011 at 2:12 pm

     good addition. But you only need quotes if the path has a space somewhere, I guess.

     Reply
4. AbuAljazer says:

   October 11, 2011 at 5:34 pm

   Diskpart.cmd is a bad name, using Diskpart.cmd will make it run in an infinite loop!!!

   Use AttachVHD.cmd instead.

   Reply
5. Chan says:

   October 25, 2011 at 5:06 pm

   Thanks so much, It is really useful to me

   Reply
6. r4k4 says:

   November 23, 2011 at 3:46 am

   Thank you very much, your post already being a part of my break through.. :)

   I created my own “DiskPartConf.s” like this:

   select vdisk file=D:\VHD_Collection\delicious.vhd
   attach vdisk

   I created my own “DiskPartConf.cmd” like this:

   @echo off
   diskpart.exe -s “D:5_Kreasi\DiskPartConf.s”
   echo.
   pause

   I put shortcut into my own “StartUp Folder” and set it to be “Run as administrator”

   Any comments for better improvement are welcome.. :)

   Reply