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anonimous
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*.vmdk file is lost

hi

One of our VM (WIN2000) running on ESX 3.5 Update2 doesn't have *.vmdk file, but this machine still works.

In the Datastore Browser in the directory of this VM there are just these 2 files:

w2k.vswp

w2k-flat.vmdk

Howto recreate missing *.vmdk file?

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Troy_Clavell
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see this KB article

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1002511

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anonimous
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Thx, but to Identify the SCSI controller type doesn't work.

I've tried the following command on my ESX 3.5 Update2 in the VM directory, but it seems not to work:

less *.vmx | grep -i virtualdev

*.vmx: No such file or directory

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Troy_Clavell
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if you are missing the .vmx file, you can create a new virtual machine (custom), with no disk, then create the .vmdk

anonimous
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THX again, but howto create a new virtual machine (custom), with no disk?

Can I do it from the command line using putty?

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Troy_Clavell
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you can do it from the command line, but it's a lot easier from the VI Client. Otherwise something like http://www.easyvmx.com/.

If using the VI Client, right click on choose create virtual machine, then choose custom.

anonimous
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THX, I've created a new virtual machine (custom), with no disk, but what's next step?

Should I move and rename the new vmx file from the new directory to the old directory where the vmdk file is missing?

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Troy_Clavell
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yes, get all files together, this way you can recreate the discripter file (.vmdk). Once done, you can add Hard Disk (Use an existing virtual disk) to the VM and power it back on.

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anonimous
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U mean move and rename all moved files?

There are 3 new files:

new_no_disk.vmsd

new_no_disk.vmx

new_no_disk.vmxf

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Troy_Clavell
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question: Is the guest in question still powered on and registered in inventory? If so, power it down, and remove it from inventory. Move all the files into the correct folder (probably the name of the original VM), once that it done, add the guest back to inventory, add the HDD back into the guest. Before you power it on, click on migrate, move the guest and it's disk files to another LUN, this will rename everything to whatever you have added the guest to inventory as.

Make sense?

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anonimous
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THX, I've done what U suggested, created a vmdk file and it works well.

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