How to expand a virtual machines disk space

There comes a time when everyone who uses virtual machines runs out of space.
I use virtual machines for my dev environment, which means i can mess around with them, install things to test them out safe in the knowledge that you can always get back to a previous state, or even back to the start with out any pain at all.
ive got a VM for VS2003 one for VS2008, i used to have one for VS2005 (but i don't use that any more) and dare i say it one for VB6 (which thankfully ive not used for quite a while)
But recently i ran out of space on the VS2008 install, id also got office installed, and i wanted the 3.5 framework sp1 installing, which is surprisingly large.
well, this is what i did:
open up a command line
vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x 16Gb "C:\VMWare\WinXPPro5\Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
boot up from an ubuntu 8.04 live cd
bring up command console
type sudo gparted
select your main partition
right click partition to be expanded and hit resize
move slider to the right for the whole of the disk
apply
exit ubuntu
restart xp
enjoy your new many gigs of space