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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Help: Could not open virtual machine Windows 7 x64.vmx Internal error.

I used this vm yesterday, turned it off, tried restoring the saved session and I got this error message.

Could not open virtual machine "Windows 7 x64" (Y:\Virtual Machines\Windows 7 x64\Windows 7 x64.vmx):

Internal error.

I have the vmdk file and every other file so I Am not sure why I am getting this error, I would really appreciate some help here. I have attached the logs

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to fix this?

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Responses are slower on weekends.

While you are waiting, you could add the following:

  • Host OS and version
  • Workstation version
  • File listing of the VM

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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

and even more important - attach the latest or better the last 3 vmware.logs to your reply.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

I have attached the logs

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

But not these:

  • Host OS and version
  • Workstation version
  • File listing of the VM

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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

I can't tell you what exactly is causing the issue, but the log file shows permission issues with the suspended VM, i.e. with some of its files.

What you may do is to discard the suspended state, which equals a hart reset of the VM.

Some questions though:

  • Is Y: a partition on an internal or external HDD/SSD?
  • Did you exclude *.vm* files from on-access virus scanning?
  • Did you start VMware Workstation using the same account/permissions as before?

Personally, I try to avoid suspending a VM whenever possible, and rather go with a clean shutdown, and power on.

André

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Y is a partition on an external HD.

I didn't exclude the .vm files from being scanned.

Yes everything is the same as before, same account, same pc etc

I am really not sure why this is happening

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Host OS: Windows 7 x64

Wokstation version: 15.5.0

As for the file listing,  I am not exactly sure what you mean here, can you please explain better?

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Your VM is a bunch of files (eg. .VMX and .VMDK) - a screenshot of the folder that contains those files.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Ok, here is the screenshot

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

Have you seen the screenshot? I still haven't resolved this.

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

The logs show error 1392, which Microsoft's error reference tells us is ERROR_FILE_CORRUPT, "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable".  Workstation is unable to work with the files inside the VM's folder because the host's hard disk (the Y: drive) is corrupted.  Your host's Event Viewer may report additional details on the nature of the problem.

You should attempt to back up the contents of the Y: disk before doing anything else (but be sure to not overwrite your most recent good backup just in case this backup can not complete!).

Next, I would advise using CHKDSK (or some equivalent tool... e.g. in Explorer, choose the hard disk's Properties, then pick Tools, then Check) to verify the integrity of the Y: disk's structures.  The disk check might be able to recover the drive to a usable state, but it might also shed light on more substantial disk corruption... There's no way to know without trying it.

--

Darius

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

dariusd I tried backing up my virtual machine files on the Y: disk, I got an error message, I have attached a screenshot of the error message here. Every other file in the virtual machine folder was backed up except the virtual machine disk file, I keep getting an error message when I try to back that file up.

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

dariusd​ did as you suggested with the disk check, seems to have fixed the problem of backing up files, also my vm workstation seems to have been fixed (i guess) but now when I try to start the machine, I get an error message saying "the file specified is not a virtual disk", what does this mean and how can I fix this ?

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dariusd
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

It means that the virtual disk file itself has been corrupted too.

Your options are to restore your most recent good backup (hopefully your backup just now did not overwrite your last good backup), to use data recovery software or services to attempt to recover data from the disk, or to rebuild the virtual machine.

Do you know how the disk got corrupted in the first place?  Usually this sort of problem results from a system hang/crash or a surprise unplug of a disk which is in use, or a hardware fault.  (Very rarely it can be a software defect too, but modern filesystem drivers are quite reliable.)

--

Darius

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Moderator: Please do not start another thread on the same topic when you already have this thread active.

The new thread you created today has been archived.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

I tried using this fix here VMware Knowledge Base but the

"vmware-vdiskmanager"

command keeps returning as an error.

"

'vmware-vdiskmanager' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

"

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

That command would work in a Linux host - on Windows use something like

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -R "D:\vms\aunt-dorothys-favorite-sausage\dogs-watching-cat-videos.vmdk"

if you want to repair the vmdk.

In your case it looks like you created the VM as admin and now try to run it as a regular user.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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vmusermike
Contributor
Contributor

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -R "D:\vms\aunt-dorothys-favorite-sausage\dogs-watching-cat-videos.vmdk"

Do I type and execute this at once or is this two separate commands?

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