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SwarupDev
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VM Ware workstation 15 player Error in opening vmx file is corrupt

I am using VM Ware workstation 15 player in Win 10 laptop. The Guest OS is Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I had the maximum size of the HD set to 40 GB. The current size has reached 39.4, and today the OS will not open. It tries to when I give the command, but is unable to complete the process of opening and freezes up. I assume it is due to lack of space.

So I went to increase the disc capacity, but when I click on the option to do so it gives the message that "There is not enough space on the file system for the selected operation." My HD has 120 GB, and 12 GB are free. I tried to increase the virtual HD by 6 GB. But I read that there has to be a free space on the HDD equal in size to the Virtual HD size in order to expand it. In reading on the VM ware site it says that one solution for this is to copy the workstation virtual machine to an external drive where there is adequate space, and carry out the expand operation there. After which it can be again moved back to the original location in one's computer.

So I copied the workstation virtual machine to an external drive. When I try to open it there, I get the message "Error in opening, vmx file is corrupt." I read about how to recover or create a new vmx file here, but the first step it gives is: "Log in to the Flash or HTML5 web client as an administrator". I read about this but could not understand how I can do it.

Please kindly guide me so that I can expand the size of my workstation virtual machine.

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SwarupDev
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I implemented the 5 second delay. But it is still not bringing up the boot menu.

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a_p_
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Did you edit the .vmx file with VMware Workstation being closed? That's required in order for the manual changes to take effect.


André

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SwarupDev
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Yes, VMware Workstation was closed. And the 5 second delay is definitely working. The opening screen sits there for 5 seconds, and it is written there to press 'esc' to bring up the boot menu. But even then, pressing 'esc' does not bring up the boot menu. Online it is given that for Ubuntu, the left shift key will work for this purpose. But that is also not working.

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a_p_
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That's unusual. Did you click into the VM's screen to give it the focus before pressing the ESC key?

André

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SwarupDev
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Two things I notice:

1) While that initial screen is there for 5 seconds in which it says at the bottom of the screen to press esc to get the boot screen, I do not have a cursor. I cannot see my cursor anywhere for those 5 seconds.

2) Even then, by pressing the esc key during that time, there is some screen with options that flashes on the screen extremely briefly before the boot starts. It is impossible to read what it says what to speak of selecting options from it. And it is also not the usual Grub screen with which I am quite familiar. It is some other screen which has perhaps 4 options or so, but it is really just a flash on the screen and then the boot starts.

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SwarupDev
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I have tried it a hundred times, I cannot get the boot screen to come up. Can I used GParted from with the VM? After Ubuntu boots up I can start up GParted and see the virdual disk size and the partition size, and the option is there to increase the partition size right there. Can I implement it? Would it be harmful in some way? Right now I do not see any other solution. Please let me know if this can be done. Or otherwise, I need some other way to get the partition size increased to the size of the virtual disk.

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SwarupDev
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Ii got it. Victory! That boot screen flashes on the screen ever so briefly, just a flash, as I mentioned above. But if you catch it at just that moment by hitting the up or down arrow on the keyboard, then it will stay on the screen. It is not enough just to hit esc key; one has to catch the boot screen by touching the up or down arrow key just at that moment when the boot screen flashes.

Thank you for your guidance and help-- I am very grateful. Now I've got 9.5 GB of space and can do my work peacefully.

Is there a place to mark the thread as solved?

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bluefirestorm
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The key to press is "F2" be it virtual BIOS or virtual UEFI.

Alternative to the bios.bootDelay is

bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"

This will bring up the virtual BIOS/UEFI on power up and no keypress is required. As it is for once only, next power-up of VM is back to normal.

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SwarupDev
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@Bluefirestorm: Excellent information -- thank you! I assume this command would also be place in the .vmx file.

Also: I note that someone has marked one of Andre's replies as "correct". But all of Andre's replies were correct and all of them were extremely helpful and critically important in the solution to the problem which I faced.

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scott28tt
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Moderator: Only 1 answer per thread can be marked as “Correct”, although a “Like” can be added to any reply.


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RDH-81
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The link to the process to modify the vmx file from the log file is broken.  One question I have is with a vmx file of 92,926,418 KB, what application would I use to open it?  The VM in my case is Ubuntu 64-bit.  Thanks for your support!  BTW, if you could notify me at rdh81@gmx, or dickh@4holliday.de it would be helpful.

 

Best regards,

Richard Holliday

 

 

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