VMWare No Longer Works with a .vmdk has internal errors

[fmcgorman]

Hopefully someone can help me.  My Windows 10 upgraded and now VMWare doesn't work.  It gives this message:

"The disk '/Users/frank/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows 7 x64.vmwarevm/Windows 7 x64.vmdk' has one or more internal errors that cannot be fixed."

So I downloaded VMWare 8.5 dmg file and tried to reinstall on my iMac 27 (circu 2010 running High Sierra 10.13.6).  Same error.  I looked in the Apple finder app and the path in the error message goes to only "Users/Frank/Documents" and there is no "Virtual Machines.localized" folder.  Picture attached.  Anyone know how I can fix this?  All I want to do is get the files from my VM Windows system.  Then I'm taking VMware off my Mac.  It's just more trouble than it is worth.  I have a Surface Book PC that works fine when I need a windows app.

Any help would be appreciated.

      Frank

[a_p_]

From the Finder Control-click, or right-click the "Windows 7 x64" package, and select Show Package Contents to see all of the VM's files.

Anyway, to help figure out what is what, the best way to provide comprehensive diagnostic information is to use the "Collect Support Information" command from the VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > Collect Support Information and then attach the .zip file (or .tgz file if pre-version 6) it created on your Desktop to a reply post.

André

[wila]

Hi,

Just as a FYI, to help lessen the confusion a bit.

Quote:

Same error.  I looked in the Apple finder app and the path in the error message goes to only "Users/Frank/Documents" and there is no "Virtual Machines.localized" folder.

The "Virtual Machines" folder in your Documents folder actually is your "Virtual Machines.localized" folder.

This is macOS Finder being helpful by showing you a locally translated version.

For example, if you change your macOS language to German and reboot then it will suddenly read "Virtuellen Machinen"

--

Wil

[fmcgorman]

Andre,

Thanks so much.  Attached are the 7x64 files.  The "Collect Support Information" file is 66MB.  The forum won't let me post it. So I put it on google drive with a share link, which is below the screen shot of the 7x64 package.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LF6XWLA5foE0afgqnC8WNnCjxLbxShIK

Really appreciate your help on this.

          Frank

[a_p_]

That looks really bad. I can't tell you whether it can be fixed. However, I can at least take a closer look at the .vmdk file's metadata.

To extract the metadata follow these steps:

1. open a "Terminal"
2. go to the VM's folder
   cd "/Users/frank/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows 7 x64.vmwarevm"
3. extract the virtual disk's metadata into a .bin file
   dd if="Windows 7 x64.vmdk" of="Metadata.bin" bs=512 count=114176

Then compress/zip the .bin file, and attach the .zip archive to a reply post.

André

[fmcgorman]

Sorry for the delay.  I'm in California and PG&E shut our power off for a few days.  So, here is the compressed bin file. 

Hopefully this helps.  If we can't get the virtual machine running again, is there any other way to get the files off the virtual machine hard drive?

Again, thanks for your help.  It is really appreciated.

      Frank

[a_p_]

The metadata doesn't look good, a huge portion has been overwritten / zeroed out for whatever reason. Almost 24GB worth of user data are not pointed to anymore by the grain tables.

Do you have a recent backup from which you could extract the metadata using the before mentioned command? Maybe this will allow to recover the current .vmdk file's metadata up to a certain level!?

continuum​: Do you know a tool which is able to extract data from a .vmdk file with corrupted metadata?

André

[continuum]

Wow - that is an impressive damage.

Sorry - dont know any native mac tools.

Copy to Windowshost and then try:

1. probably to old : vdk.exe and vdk64.exe

2. Starwind V2Vconverter

3. sometimes useful : WinImage and 7zip

commercial : UFSexplorer

[fmcgorman]

I want to thank everyone for their help.  I'll try the tools to see if I can extract the data.  Whatever I can extract I will consider a bonus.  At this point I'm writing it all off.  It's a personal PC, not a work computer, so it's just pictures, articles, files, and whatever.  I'm sorry to lose them, but it is more an inconvenience than a problem.

I'm done with VMWare and any other virtual machine software.  I plan to run windows on my wondows PC and MacOS on my iMac and leave them pure.  I can share files via a common cloud drive.  So much simpler.  Especially for the updates.

I consider this issue closed.  Again thanks.

              Frank