Windows XPconverted is missing

[vtolbert]

Suddenly my Windows XPconverted is missing. I get a question mark when I try to access the machine. I was able to use it 2-3 weeks ago without incindent, and I have made no changes since then. I am running Mac OS 10.8.6. Please help.

[vtolbert]

I have searched for the VMware fusion bundle and the virtual machine but am unable to find it on my hard drive or in Time Machine.

[tracywang]

Try to find your VM's path from Fusion's log file.

Go to ~/Library/Logs/VMware Fusion/

Open the vmware-vmfusion.log (or -0, -1, -2), search .vmwarevm and your may find the the VM path info in it.

If you can't, try to use find command in Terminal:

find / -name '*.vmwarevm' -print

[WoodyZ]

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.

Otherwise you can use a program like Disk Inventory X to look at the hard drive in a graphical view and this will make it easier to see large files that comprise the Virtual Machine.

Also using Spotlight or the Terminal equivalent mdfind is much faster the using the find command as suggested by tracywang.

[vtolbert]

Thanks to you both for that info. I will not be able to work on the problem until later today, but will report back as soon as I have done that.  However, I did create the "Collect Support Information" file and am attaching it here. Thanks again!

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

According to the com.vmware.fusion.plist file the Virtual Machine Package was located at "/Users/vickietolbert/Library/Parallels/winxp.2/WindowsXPconverted.vmwarevm" however VMware Fusion's Collect Support Information command did not gather information on it and I have to assume that's because it no longer exists.  However, if it does still exist at that location then you should be able to see it in Finder and if not then you should be able to use Spotlight or the Terminal equivalent mdfind if not Disk Inventory X to locate it.

If you do locate it and it will not run, let us know so we can further diagnose/troubleshoot the issue.

Message was edited by: WoodyZ

[vtolbert]

Thank you so much for that! I now know what happened. I haven't used Parallels in years and recently ditched what I thought was useless residue. Maybe I can retrieve it from time machine. Again, many thanks!

[WoodyZ]

vtolbert wrote: Maybe I can retrieve it from time machine.

You can try, however if you are not successful know the following...

It is a known fact that Time Machine is not 100% reliable backing up/restoring Virtual Machines under all circumstances/conditions.  Also backing up Virtual Machines via Time Machine is disk/time intensive and wastes a tremendous amount of space for something that may be corrupt and worthless come time to restore it.  At a minimum I would exclude Virtual Machines from Time Machine and with the Virtual Machines shutdown, not suspended, and VMware Fusion closed then manually copy the Virtual Machines Package(s) to an alternate location, preferably on to a different physical hard disk.  Then keep the User Data that is stored within the Virtual Machine backed up off of the Virtual Machine on a regular basis so as to always have a current User Data Backup.  If you have to restore a properly backed up Virtual Machine that is not as current at least you'll have a working Virtual Machine and current User Data to go forward with when you find out your Time Machine Backup of the Virtual Machine fails.

[vtolbert]

Dang! I now remember that I did exclude that from Time Machine! Thanks for the advice. Will see what can be done later today.

[vtolbert]

I did back it up with an online backup method. If I can get the virtual machine back maybe I can restore from there.

[vtolbert]

An update: I was able to retrieve the virtual machine from an old Time Machine save (from before I knew to exclude the VM). It does appear to work. Now I have to figure out how to restore my current info from Mozy. Thanks to you both for all the help!