Hi everybody. I got my HD crashed lately and I had to restore virtual machine (Windows XP running on Fusion 2.0) from recovered HD. Unfortunately some files could not recovered and Windows XP Home Edition-000001.vmdk was among them. To start my virtual machine again on new HD, I did next steps:
1. I downloaded Fusion 2.0 from vmware.com, installed it and registered with activation code I had for previous virtual machine
2. Then copied Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm from recovered HD to the new HD: documents/virtual machines/Windows XP Home Edition.vmwarevm
3. When I tried to start virtual machine, it says that "File not found: Windows XP Home Edition-000001.vmdk This file is required to power on this virtual machine. If this file was moved, please provide its new location."
Is there any solution to activate this virtual machine again? I tried to find an answer through google, but did not got solution that worked. It seems to be also a problem, that existing virtual machine is not powered off, but has suspended.
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 .tgz file it created on your Desktop to a reply post.
Even though you will most likely be able to start the VM without the snapshot file (Windows XP Home Edition-000001.vmdk) you may not be very happy with it, because the snapshot was taken in August 2008 and all data modified since then is lost.
To be able to start the VM from the original virtual disk, delete the following files from the vmwarevm bundle:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 536870912 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition-Snapshot1.vmem
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 17950365 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition-Snapshot1.vmsn
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 536870912 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmem
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 username staff 508 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition.vmsd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 135626531 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmss
drwxr-xr-x 3 username staff 102 May 18 08:53 Windows XP Home Edition.vmx.lck
From the remaining files:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 8684 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.nvram
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 6880952320 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition.vmdk
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 username staff 3110 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmx
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 278 Aug 31 2009 Windows XP Home Edition.vmxf
edit the vmx file and replace:
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Home Edition-000001.vmdk"
with
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Home Edition.vmdk"
André
Hi Andre
How can I open these files (.vmem, .vmsn, .vmss etc..) for editing? Which program I have to use to open them?
"To be able to start the VM from the original virtual disk, delete the following files from the vmwarevm bundle:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 536870912 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition-Snapshot1.vmem
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 17950365 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition-Snapshot1.vmsn
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 536870912 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmem
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 username staff 508 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition.vmsd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 135626531 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmss
drwxr-xr-x 3 username staff 102 May 18 08:53 Windows XP Home Edition.vmx.lck
From the remaining files:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 8684 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.nvram
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 6880952320 Aug 25 2008 Windows XP Home Edition.vmdk
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 username staff 3110 Mar 8 22:22 Windows XP Home Edition.vmx
-rwxr-xr-x 1 username staff 278 Aug 31 2009 Windows XP Home Edition.vmxf"
regards
Tarmo
Hi
You can just open them in a simple text editor. Be sure to save them in the same format though.
Just a note on the side:
When you take a snapshot a differencing file is created. All changes are written to the differencing file instead of the original vmdk.
Grtz,
Harold
Hi
I tried to open files .vmem and .vmsn with TextEdit on my mac, but I could not locate necessary lines on code what Andre recommended to delete.:(
Tarmo
Like Andre said: delete files, those other files you keep and you edit the vmx file to point to the correct vmdk file.
If want to test it first, then edit the vmx file, move the files to delete to another folder and boot your machine. If it boots well then you can delete the moved files.
To be able to start the VM from the original virtual disk, delete the following files from the vmwarevm bundle:
These files you can keep:
Edit the vmx file and replace:
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Home Edition-000001.vmdk"
with
scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows XP Home Edition.vmdk"
hpreyers wrote:
- Windows XP Home Edition-Snapshot1.vmsn --> this is the actual snapshot
The .vmsn file is not the "actual snapshot" and is the snapshot state file, which stores the running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot and this is quite different then the actual "<vmname>-<disk>-<###>.vmdk" snapshot virtual hard disk file. Which in the case of the OP doesn't exist and why the need to edit the .vmx configuration file to point to the base virtual hard disk.
I tried to open files .vmem and .vmsn with TextEdit on my mac, but I could not locate necessary lines on code what Andre recommended to delete.:(
You do not need to open the .vmem and .vmsn files, only delete them and the .vmsd file. You need to edit the .vmx configuration file so have a look at:
VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Using the VMware Fusion Interface > Working with Virtual Machine Packages
I deleted those files:
Virtual machine booted well after that, but all the data since 2008 was lost. Do I have any oportunities to recover this data at all? Are all the lost data written to the lost ...000001.vdmk file?
Indeed. The moment you take a snapshot, you start working in a new vmdk file, in your case 'the lost ...000001.vdmk'. This new vmdk file only contains the changes. You should avoid working on a snapshot for the long term. The only way to recover your changed data since 2008 is to recover the lost vmdk file. You should consider a way to backup your data. This remains true in regards to virtual environments.