A file was not found

[brucecmc]

hi folks...need a little help...

I have a copy of a VM that I literally copied the files to a directory on my ESXHOST. I did this originally, because I only have a single ESXHOST and each time I attempted to Clone the VM, it would die with an obscure error. I want to use these VMDK's to "rebuild" if you will, the original machine (the original got whacked). I copied the files to a datastore that held the original machine.

I ran the "register" VM command and the VM pops right up in VC, but when I attempt to start it, the error "A file was not found" almost immediately is generated...I'm not entirely clear on what the file is that it is missing...

Any help??/

bruce

[khughes · Accepted solution]

You're probably missing one of your .vmdk files. I did some restores and tried to fire up a machine to get that message. If you go into edit settings of the VM you're having trouble with, click on each hard drive that is shown. There probably will be one that has "unavailable" for the size listing. If you find that it says that, you'll need to copy that .vmdk file to the location its looking for.

• Kyle

[brucecmc]

that was it my friend...

i am wondering...why would that be the case...the vmdk for the "2nd" disk was present in the datastore folder...

but, problem resolved anyhow...thanks for the help..

bruce

[brucecmc]

actually, i retract that statement...the vmdk for the 2nd disk was NOT in that datastore...as a matter of fact, the datastore i'm using is not the original one. and when i removed the vm from the original data store, i did a remove from disk removal, thereby whacking both disks...ouch...will need to remember that for the future...

thanks again.

[khughes]

Ouch gotta be careful about that stuff glad to be of some help

• Kyle

[brucecmc]

roger...luckily it was T&D stuff...no worries...Maybe you can answer another question...Why if you only have a single ESX HOST, does clone bomb out on you? i dont recall the specific error, but in order to have "clones" of my vm's, i have to copy the files (which of course takes forever). any thoughts on that?

[khughes]

Unfortunatly I don't know the answer to that question, if you re-created the error message and then posted another thread I'm sure someone (there are a lot of knowledgable people on here) would be able to help you answer it.

• Kyle

[brucecmc]

understood...thanks again for the help.

bruce