Disk management breaks my VM

[ThomasMcA]

I am using WS9 in 64bit Linux (Fedora 17.) I recently used "sdelete -c" in my Win7 guest to prepare for virtual disk compression, but it filled the partition and crashed the VM. That crash created a Win7-000001.vmdk disk file that I cannot get rid of. If I clone the VM, the new VM crashes with a BSOD 8e error. If I use vmware-vdiskmanager to convert the sparse disk to a flat disk, the new VM crashes with a BSOD c000021a error.

Note that the existing Win7-000001.vmdk / Win7.vmdk combination works - I just want to get rid of the 000001.vmdk file.

Lastly, the Win7-000001.vmdk file appears to be an AutoProtect snapshot that was created during the first crash. The Snapshot Manager does not show any snapshots.

So, how do I get rid of the Win7-000001.vmdk file?

I recently upgraded from WS7 to WS9, and I am still in the 30-day support period, but the website will not let me create a support ticket. Hence, I am describing my problem here.

[a_p_]

I'm not sure about VMware Workstation for Linux, but isn't there a checkbox "Show Autoprotect Snapshots" in the Snapshot Manager window? With this checked, does the snapshot still not show up?

If this does not help. please compress/zip the VM's .vmx, .vmsd as well as the vmware.log files and attach the .zip to your next reply post.

André

[a_p_]

... you may also check whether the solution at Re: Cannot resize virtual disk, VM using a 'child' vmdk file. helps you too.

André

[ThomasMcA]

Although that got rid of the 000001.vmdk file, the resulting VM was corrupt. Windows (in the VM) ran checkdisk when it started, which deleted a bunch of files and indexes. Windows then complained about core files being missing or corrupt.

[ThomasMcA]

Yes, Linux has the same checkbox. It was already checked, but the snapshot did not appear. When I created the temp snapshot described in your next post, the new snapshot appeared between the "VM name" icon and the "You are here" icon (but the ghost snapshot still did not appear.)

The requested zip is attached.

Thanks

Tom

[a_p_]

What's interesting is that you said "Note that the existing Win7-000001.vmdk / Win7.vmdk combination works". Can you confirm the snapshot file is in use when you run the VM? What's the size of the snapshot file? And - assuming you do have a backup - how much data would you loose when reverting to the base disk, i.e. eliminating the snapshot file?

André

[ThomasMcA]

The snapshot file is 23Gig, and is definitely in use. Most of that is probably temp files that I created (in an attempt to fill the empty disk space with zeros to enable maximum compaction.) Reverting drops that down to 306 Meg, but then the VM will not boot, and goes into a startup recovery loop.

Note that I have used sdelete to aid in compacting my VMs for several years. My mistake was moving my sparse VM that had a max size of 75 Gig to a 76 Gig partition. I did not leave enough available space for system files and snapshots. Now I am trying to recover from that mistake.

[ThomasMcA]

I'm not sure what happened, but my "working" version of my VM wouldn't boot - it gave the same checkdisk errors. So I restored my most recent backup, and reverted that version. The 23Gig 000001.vmdk file changes to a 345MB 000002.vmdk file, and the VM starts normally. But I still can't get rid of the AutoProtect snapshot. If I shut down the VM and revert again, it reverts to the same point in time within the VM - the AutoProtect snapshot never goes away.

[a_p_]

Did you disable "Autoprotect" in the VM's settings (Options -> Snapshots)?

André

[WoodyZ]

Another option instead of using the GUI is to use vmware-vdiskmanager from a Command Prompt to create a new parent disk from the existing snapshot chain and then swap out the new disk for the existing disks and edit the appropriate files as necessary.  I'd give more specific details if I was sitting at my computer however I'm not at the present moment.

Sent from iPhone.

[ThomasMcA]

I thought I had already disabled AutoProtect, but maybe the setting got re-enabled during one of my restores...

OK, so AutoProtect is now disabled, and I reverted again. I still get a 000002.vmdk file that grows in size while the VM is in use.

I guess I could try deleting the .vmsd file again. I'll try that later when I have some time to create a fresh backup of my now-working VM.

[a_p_]

Reverting to a snapshot does not delete the snapshot file but only resets it. If you want to get rid of a snapshot you need to "Delete" it from the Snapshot Manager. Deleting a snapshot merges the deltas into its parent disk and then deletes the snapshot .vmdk file(s).

André

PS: Reverting also reverts the VM's configuration (.vmx) file. This might be the reason why "Autoprotect" became enabled again!?

[ThomasMcA]

Turns out my disk drive was failing, causing it to corrupt large files. A new drive is on order.

[ThomasMcA]

After installing the new drive, restoring a copy of the VM that was saved before the corruption happened, and deleting the snapshot, my VM is now running smoothly. Thanks for your assistance.