How to remove VM disk (using partitions)

[bonnyr9]

Hi All,

Workstation 11 Pro, Windows 7/10 Hosts (same behaviour), Windows 7 Guest.

Guest has a data disk configured in addition to the primary OS disk. This disk is not using a file, rather it is using physical access to an unused partition.

Guest also has snapshots (if that makes a difference)

Windows 7 Host was the original host where the machine was created

Windows 10 Host is a new installation as a result of upgrade (same machine so can access all disks)

I am trying to remove this data disk from the VM but am having issues:

1. VM settings -> delete disk.     Booting up Workstation states 'insufficient permissions to access file'

2. Tried to offline the disk within the guest before removing, same result

3. tried to create full clone of the machine without the disk - same error

4. tried to create full clone of the machine with the disk - cannot clone machine with physical disks

5. When trying to start the machine on Windows 10 (new installation), I get a message stating
    that the partition table has changed and I need to remove and add the disk:

     a - tried removing and adding, no dice

     b -  tried just removing, same error as in 1, 2 above

Note there are no log files entries generated during boot so I cannot include these here...

How do I remove this reference to the disk so I can :

1. access from either windows 7 or 10 hosts?

2. clone this machine without the physical disk

Cheers,

Bonny

[piggyz · Accepted solution]

You need to remove all the snapshots or the snapshots related with that disk to be able to delete the disk hisself. Example, even if you do not use it, if the disk was there when you did a snapshot, the related disk can't be removed.

[bonnyr9]

Thanks for the info, I ended up doing exactly this - deleted the earliest snapshot referring to the disk and was able to start the VM from W10.

Is there no way to edit these resources on the snapshot without deleting it?

One use case is this starting up on another OS - the partition table order has changed - is there no way to simply patch the affected snapshot with the new details?

Cheers,

Bonny

[piggyz]

No. Snapshots are deeply connected with the state of the virtual machines configurations at the moment you get the snapshots, virtual hardware included. So any type of editing will be inconsistent related with the state of that snapshot, obviously I say.

[continuum]

> Is there no way to edit these resources on the snapshot without deleting it?
Physical disks should be in independant mode when using snapshots.
So it is possible to edit the snapshot as long as the snapshot has been created while the VM was powered off.