Problems storing files too large VMWARE

[Imru68]

Hello everyone,

I have another little problem with VMWARE.

I created a VM with a storage capacity of 242 GB that I store on a 1 TB external SSD.

The problem is that my 1TB hard disk is almost full, whereas I don't have any large files in my Windows 10 VM.

I attach the listfile of my folder.

This situation may seem simple to you, but with the VM disk problems I've had recently, I'm afraid of deleting files that shouldn't be deleted.

Thank you in advance

[RDPetruska]

It looks like you have snapshots.  If you are not manually creating them, then you likely have the auto-protect enabled.  Most of us recommend disabling that feature as it increases the chances of disk corruption in the long run; and it's easy enough to create a backup of your VM when it is working, so you can revert to a known state if you need to.

[Imru68]

Hello, thank you for your reply.

How can I be sure I'm deleting the right files?

If I delete them, there won't be any problem?

I have to delete the right files because I have very little space left on the SSD and I'm afraid it will create a write error if the hard disk becomes full and the VM suddenly stops.

[RDPetruska]

Do NOT manually delete ANY of the files!

Go into your Settings for this VM.  Options tab.  AutoProtect entry.  Uncheck the checkbox to "Enable Autoprotect".  This will disable it from making any further automatic snapshots.

Then (I think) you will need to go into the Snapshot manager, make sure the checkbox is checked to "Show AutoProtect snapshots".  Use the Delete button in there to have the system delete the snapshots - you will need enough free disk space to do so.

[Imru68]

Hello, in the snapshoot manager, they don't appear (see picture) :

I also notice that when I created the VM, I had already removed the autoprotect.

I don't know how to do it

[Imru68]

When I try to delete a snapshot I get this error:

But, after this error the snapshot is no longer displayed in the manager. I think all my snapshots are no longer displayed, but have not been deleted.

[a_p_]

In your other discussion I recommended creating a full clone to consolidate the snapshots, what from what I understand from this discussion you didn't do!?

Anyway, the error message you get now is about corrupted metadata. Depending on the extent of the damage, it may be possible to fix the metadata. Please attach the VM's latest vmware.log to your next reply. This should contain details about the damage.

André

[Imru68]

Hello, when I want to create a clone, I have a problem.

I don't know if it has something to do with it but while cloning the VM, I saw that in the copied files the problem may come from Windows 10 Pro-cl2-s030, the copy problem comes each time when the Windows 10 Pro-cl2-s030 file is being cloned.

I tried to copy the VM to a computer with enough space, it didn't work, and I also tried to copy to another 1TB SSD, it didn't work either.

I enclose the log file mentioned in the error message

[a_p_]

Please attach the VM's latest vmware.log file, which should contain details about the metadata corruption in the .vmdk file(s).

André

[Imru68]

Here is the latest VMware log file :

Thank you

[a_p_]

The configuration contains the same virtual disk twice.

2023-05-29T10:55:22.635+02:00| vmx| I005: DICT nvme0:0.fileName = "Windows 10 Pro-cl1-000060.vmdk"
2023-05-29T10:55:22.635+02:00| vmx| I005: DICT nvme0:1.fileName = "Windows 10 Pro-cl1.vmdk"

The second mapping to the base virtual disk must not be there. Please unmap/remove this virtual disk from the VM's configuration WITHOUT selecting the option to delete it from the disk!!!

André

[Imru68]

Hello, I don't understand, the disk you're talking about doesn't appear in the VM configuration.

I only have one hard disk.

What should I do?

[a_p_]

That's interesting, because it showed that mapping in the vmware-0.log file!?

Anyway, let's take a look at the "needs repair" issue that you mentioned.

For this please follow the steps that I've posted at https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Player/Virtual-Machine-Won-t-start/m-p/2943257#...

André

[Imru68]

Hello, here are there :

Thank you very much

[a_p_]

Not so good news. I'm surprised that the VM worked, and did not log any error messages about corrupted metadata in some of the .vmdk files. I did analyze all the files, and you can find the result in the attached .zip archive.

There are multiple files - interestingly only in the fist "000001" snapshot - with up to ~4,500 errors. These duplicates (DUP) are pointers, which point to the same 64kB user data blocks. Holes (HOL) are 64kB blocks which exist, but have no pointers, i.e. are unused.
Fixing these errors would be a 50:50 chance of zeroing vs. keeping the correct pointers, and it's a manual job, which will require hours of work.

Is there any way that you backup as much data as possible from within the guest OS, and then create a new VM with that data?
When did you last backup the guest OS?

André

[Imru68]

Oh, ok. First of all, thank you very much for your help, and your analysis.

Do you know how I can back up all my VM's data? Is there any software or conventional method for this?

I have all my software, all my customer data, all my navigation data, all my Excel files, I have access to the VM, so I can perform the necessary operation on it directly

[a_p_]

Out of curiosity. Are you able to power on the cloned VM, even though the clone process throws this error?

André

[Imru68]

Hi, no, i can't power on.

I attach the log file of the launch failure :

[a_p_]

Something's going badly wrong here.

The missing file "Windows 10 Pro-cl1-000060-s001.vmdk" did exist at the time when you extracted the metadata.
There may be an issue with your storage (physical or logical), or some virus scan software causes this.

André

[sausisse]

I'm not an expert but I think that no software can use a file when Windows Defender is scanning it. It did happened for VMX files butI think that it can happen to VMDK files.

Also any kind of restricition affect the files when applied to the master folder.

And for executing to bad drives, it can happen when I/O errors occurs, but I cannot remember if this happened to me, but it can impact the VM, thus causing corruption.

I'm not a pro, so I cannot prove anything.