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RanjnaAggarwal
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Role of .vmsd and .vmxf files

What is the role of these files initially when vm is created?

I know .vmsd is snapshot descriptor and .vmxf is extended configuration file but why those are created initially. Is that due to vm depends upon thse files?

Regards, Ranjna Aggarwal
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

<vm>.vmsd --> contains line entries which define the relationships between snapshots as well as the child disks for each snapshot.

<vmname>.vmxf -->  This is a supplemental configuration file for virtual machines that are in a team. Note that the .vmxf file remains if a virtual machine is removed from the team.

                                       [ Teaming is a feature used primarily with VMware workstation to allow administrators to logically group virtual machines for streamlined administration. ]


~dGeorgey



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RanjnaAggarwal
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

this is what i said i knew what is role of these files but why it is needed at that time when vm is created?

Regards, Ranjna Aggarwal
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

vmsd and vmxf are two  files which makes up a virtual machine along with some others at the time of VM creation.

.vmsd is a null file which is created as a placeholder but will have contents at time when a snapshot is created, but vmxf file, is an XML file, which will have the some of configuration details of the VM in addition to the vmx file like VMID, path to the vmxfile some other VM metadata attributes.

~dGeorgey

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Check this link here is everything explained very well ..of every file..

What Files Make Up a Virtual Machine?

I am sure it will help you to know more about vmware vm's file extension.

Yours, Phillips

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RanjnaAggarwal
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

i knew about all the files as i said my question is what is role of this .vmsd file as soon as vm gets created.

Regards, Ranjna Aggarwal
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admin
Immortal
Immortal

I know .vmsd is snapshot descriptor and .vmxf is extended configuration file but why those are created initially. ?

In short what I say is that, for some of the file integrity checks .vmxf & .vmsd files are expected.

Is that due to vm depends upon thse files?

Can't say itn't. If you delete the .vmsd file and power on the VM it succeeds only if it doesn't have a snapshot.

If you delete the .vmxf file and try a power-On it will succeed, but after enabling some of the vSphere features, it might not succeed a power cycle.

~dGeorgey

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

the vmsd file keeps the information that the Snapshotmanager needs to display the snapshot-tree.

If the vmsd is invalid the VM will not start.
If the vmsd is blank or missing it will be recreated on next start of the VM.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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RanjnaAggarwal
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

but this file has any role in newly created VM

Regards, Ranjna Aggarwal
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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

no - for a brand new VM it is not necessary

In case you want to create new VMs with a texteditor and a vmkfstools command you can ignore the vmsd-file


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...