Have an old Fusion VM, is it loadable by current version of Fusion?

[TakeTime]

It appears to be from VMX build 730298, which I assume correlates to a Mac Fusion version number. It was hosted on macOS 12.3.

Is there a way to get a list of the files in the VM? (I'd guess no as to the number of files) I'm looking for a specific file that *could* be in one of the VMs.

Thanks in advance...

[Technogeezer]

Glad you're making progress.

A VM won't power up unless a .vmx file is in the bundle. One additional thought. Are there any files in that directory that's missing the .vmx file named vmware.log (or vmware-0.log, vmware-1.log, vmware-2.log). If so, it may be possible to re-create the .vmx file using the information in those files. 

If one of those files are available, zip it up and post it here and I'll see if I can re-create the .vmx file for you.

[TakeTime]

The one with a vmx opened fine, and I was able to log into it. The other one did not open, and I got no error either. I will look at the original drive and see what I can find. That one was a rahter large folder, so it's possible it got borked on the copy.

So far I have 2. I have a stack of hard drives to look at that probably have a few more VMS on them as well. (I hope)

Thanks for your help.

So, no .vmx, no go. Got it...

[TakeTime]

A screen shot of the file list.

And:

---

. Windows 7 x64-s013.vmdk
.. Windows 7 x64-s014.vmdk
.DS_Store Windows 7 x64-s015.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmem Windows 7 x64-s016.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmem.lck Windows 7 x64-s017.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmss Windows 7 x64-s018.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-s001.vmdk Windows 7 x64-s019.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-s002.vmdk Windows 7 x64-s020.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-s003.vmdk Windows 7 x64-s021.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-s004.vmdk Windows 7 x64.nvram
Windows 7 x64-s005.vmdk Windows 7 x64.plist
Windows 7 x64-s006.vmdk Windows 7 x64.vmdk
Windows 7 x64-s007.vmdk appListCache
Windows 7 x64-s008.vmdk screenshotsCache
Windows 7 x64-s009.vmdk vmware-0.log
Windows 7 x64-s010.vmdk vmware-1.log
Windows 7 x64-s011.vmdk vmware-2.log
Windows 7 x64-s012.vmdk vmware.log

./Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmem.lck:
. .. M00807.lck

./appListCache:
. .DS_Store appsToPublish launchMenu
.. appData fixedItems recentDocuments

./appListCache/appData:
.
..
0005cdf79cc4bac155bd930dbecf8418.appicon
...

ffa83a26512705682c295cb019cf67b8.appinfo
version

./appListCache/appsToPublish:
. appsToPublish.menudata
.. version

./appListCache/fixedItems:
. fixedItems.menudata
.. version

./appListCache/launchMenu:
. launchMenu.menudata
.. version

./appListCache/recentDocuments:
. recentDocuments.menudata
.. version

./screenshotsCache:
. .. screenshot_0000.png

[Technogeezer]

Zip up and post a copy of the vmware.log file. We should be able to re-create the .vmx file from that.

[TakeTime]

...

[TakeTime]

Here's the file. Hope it works...

"Sorry, unable to complete the action you requested."

EDIT: Oh, it did work...

[Technogeezer]

I got the file. I'll post the rebuilt vmx file as well as instructions in the morning -- it's approaching midnight here in the EST time zone.

The one thing I suggest is to take a backup of the folder of this Windows 7 x64 VM so we can preserve it in the event that something goes horribly wrong (not likely but always better to be safe than sorry)....

[RDPetruska]

Here's the vmx extracted/restored from the log file.

[TakeTime]

Thanks for your help. I've been going through boxes of drives from old systems and have found 5 more VMs. Yeah, it was getting late. I'm tired of looking for VMs, for sure.

[Technogeezer]

Ok, here's what might get that Windows 7 VM working for you:

First, make sure you have made a copy of that VM folder and its contents. Just in case so if something goes wrong, you don't have to go back to the original system to copy it over again.

Next, delete the following files from the VM's folder: That needs to be done because it looks like the VM was in a suspended state. 

• Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmem.lck
• Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmem
• Windows 7 x64-06e43f69.vmss

Then, download the attached zipfile. It contains a VMX file that was recreated from the log file you provided. Unzip the file and it will extract the file "Windows 7 x64.vmx".

Move that file to fhe virtual machine's bundle.

Now try opening the VM from Fusion GUI using FIle > Open... and see if you can power on the VM.

If things don't work, then you always have the copy you took to restore things back to where we were before,

I have another idea if this doesn't work....

[TakeTime]

I'm not ignoring you. It's taking an excruciatingly long time to transfer these VMs to my iMac Pro so I can load them. That one VM is in the queue as I work with the other VMs I've found. Just found out that there might be some VirtualBox VMs around here somewhere too. About to go pleasantly insane... Why no one thought to save the file somewhere else is getting harder to explain, and justify.

[Technogeezer]

Not to worry, just let me know if this worked for you or not. 

I do not evny you this task. It's got to be maddening.

[TakeTime]

ARG! It seems to run, but now no one can remember the password. If you can't laugh...

[Technogeezer]

Search the Internet for advice on how to reset a password.

Or... (here's my "plan B" that I alluded to in an eariler message)

If you have another Windows 7 or newer VM running (and one that's not encrypted), add the virtual disks of the one that you don't have the password for to the working VM.

To do that:

• Shut down the vm you can log into. 
• Go to the settings of that VM and click on the "Add device..." button in the upper right of the Settings window.
• Select to add an existing virtual disk, and click the "Add" button.
• In the dialog that follows, navigate to find the Virtual Disk.vmdk file of the VM that you can't log into (will likely be the only vmdk file that isn't grayed out). Unlike the Finder, this dialog will allow you to drill down into the VM's bundle.
• Select the vmdk file you want to add and make sure the "Make a separate copy of this virtual disk" button is set. That will copy the virtual disk into the current VM. (again, a safety measure to prevent against something going horribly wrong). 
• Click Open and the disk will start to be copied. When finished, power on the VM.
• Log into the VM, and Windows Explorer should now show the contents of the disk that you couldnt log into.
• When finished, then shut down the VM and delete the second virtual disk (emptying the trash to get disk space back).