Repeated corruption of vmx and vmsd files

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi,

I really hope someone here can help me because I'm climbing up the walls over this thing.

I just bought a new computer and I'm trying to move my VM's from the old computer to the new one. However, most of the time, after changing the settings of a VM or dealing with snapshots (deleting or reverting), either the vmx file or the vmsd file is getting corrupted (duplicated records or truncated records). This of course causes all kinds of errors (dictionary problem, syntax error, etc). Editing the files manually usually fixes the errors until the next time.

Let me summarize briefly what I've tried to do:

\- I copied the VM directory as is from the old computer to the new one.

\- After reading here a post saying this might cause problems, I cloned it and moved the clone to the new computer.

\- I was using v5.5.1 on the old machine and v5.5.2 on the new one, so I've uninstalled v5.5.2 and repeated the steps above with v5.5.1.

\- I also tried upgrading to v5.5.3.

\- I moved the VM to a different physical disk.

\- I created a \*new* VM and used ghost inside the VM to copy the virtual disk of the existed VM to the virtual disk of the new one.

At this point I ran out of ideas as to what might cause these corruptions so I really hope something here can help with this issue.

Any suggestions/ideas are most welcomed.

Best regards,

Michael

[Peter_vm]

New computer? Run extended memory check, burn for 24 hours, perform disk tests, etc. There are plenty of tools to do that. What is your hardware?

What about a completely new VM, does it behave properly?

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your quick reply.

I've already ran quite a few tests on the new system (memtest+, orthos, sandra) as soon as I got it and as far as I can determine the system is stable.

My hardware is:

CPU: Intel Core Duo E6600

MB: Asus P5B Deluxe

RAM: CellShock 2x1024 800Mhz

System HDD: WD 74GB Raptor 10000rpm SATA I

Data HDD: WD 250GB 7200rpm SATA II

Video card: Asus Radeon X1300

Sound card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS

The host is XP Pro 32bit SP2 and all the drivers are up-to-date.

I haven't tried installing a new VM from scratch but as I said, I did create a new VM and used ghost to duplicate the virtual disk, which should be equivalent as far as the VM config files are concerned - but I could be wrong.

Best regards,

Michael

[continuum]

Can you post one of your corrupted files ?

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi Continuum,

Here are the last couple of lines of a vmx file that just got corrupted now (let me know if you need the whole file):

\----

---

workingDir = "."

snapshot.action = "prompt"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

checkpoint.vmState.readOnly = "FALSE"

ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"

ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet1"

sound.autodetect = "TRUE"

ct = "TRUE"

ct = "TRUE"

\----

---

Note the double 'ct = "TRUE"'. I also get a lot of '= "TRUE"' ('ct' is missing).

As far as I can remember, the corruption only occurs at lines that are at the end of the file.

Thanks for the help,

Michael

[KevinG]

How are you transferring the virtual machine?

Are the two computer connected to a network where you can just copy the complete virtual machine folder from one computer to the other?

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi Kevin,

At the first try (copying the VM's dir as is without cloning), I had the HDD from the old computer connected to the new computer as I was transferring all my data, not only the VM's.

For the later attempts, both computers were connected to my router and data was transfered in the network.

Best regards,

Michael

[Michael_Silverm]

Double post.

Message was edited by:

Michael Silverman

[KevinG]

Hi Michael,

The network copy of the complete virtual machine folder should have worked.

This is a very strange issue you have, not sure what could cause the corruption.

You may want to try the network copy again, select one file at a time to transfer and verify that it is complete.

[Michael_Silverm]

Thanks for the reply, Kevin.

I'm afraid I've already re-copied one of the VM's at least 3 times when I tried different approaches but to no avail.

When I searched the forum I've found a few similar posts. For example:

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=418442&#418442

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=496341&#496341

Is this a known issue? Are there any 3rd party applications/drivers which might cause this problem? Can I enable any flag to help debug this issue?

Best regards,

Michael

[KevinG]

Hi michael,

I am not sure that these postings are related, since you can not copy the virtual machine. I assume its working on the original machine it's just that it fails to copy over to the new machine.

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi Kevin,

I'm not sure I understand you. Why do you say I can't copy the VM to the new computer? I did that. Several times.

The VM's are indeed working properly on the old machine and they're also working on the new computer, after I manually fix the corruptions in the vmx/vmsd files. The problem is that the files are keep getting corrupted all the time.

Any suggestions?

Best regards,

Michael

[Peter_vm]

To troubleshoot your problem further, it is critical to determine if this problem is related to copied VM or to your new computer.

So please create a new VM from scratch and determine if it behaves properly. Also, did your old VM have a snapshot? Please post directory of a VM from your old computer.

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi Peter,

I will create a new VM from scratch and report back.

As to your question, yes I did have snapshots in my old VM.

Here's the directory listing for the VM in the old computer:

11/03/2007 07:09 AM

.
11/03/2007 07:09 AM

..
14/11/2004 09:08 PM

Firefox

22/01/2006 04:59 AM 287,834,112 Pawn-000002.vmdk

08/03/2007 06:49 PM 10,354,688 Pawn-000003.vmdk

05/02/2007 08:20 PM 51,183,616 Pawn-000012.vmdk

05/02/2007 08:20 PM 4,294,967,296 Pawn-flat.vmdk

05/02/2007 08:20 PM 341 Pawn.vmdk

08/03/2007 06:46 PM 30,153 vmware-0.log

06/03/2007 03:37 AM 31,073 vmware-1.log

06/03/2007 03:36 AM 32,713 vmware-2.log

08/03/2007 06:48 PM 31,359 vmware.log

05/02/2007 02:01 AM 201,326,592 winxppro-Snapshot33.vmem

05/02/2007 02:01 AM 17,791,410 winxppro-Snapshot33.vmsn

05/02/2007 08:13 PM 268,435,456 winxppro-Snapshot35.vmem

05/02/2007 08:13 PM 17,791,424 winxppro-Snapshot35.vmsn

08/03/2007 06:47 PM 8,664 winxppro.nvram

06/03/2007 03:36 AM 4,790 winxppro.vmsd

08/03/2007 06:46 PM 2,631 winXPPro.vmx

16 File(s) 5,149,826,318 bytes

3 Dir(s) 6,032,728,064 bytes free

Thanks again for the help,

Michael

[continuum]

You have a high numbers of snapshots - you are on number 35 - wonder if that has to do with it ?

[Michael_Silverm]

Why would that matter? I'm not aware of some limit. Besides, only 2 snapshots actually exist.

Best regards,

Michael

[KevinG]

Hi Michael,

I believe that I understand your issue better now.

Does this corruption happen if you create a new virtual machine on this system that does not have snapshots?

What process are running on this new PC, any type of file compression, Anti-virus, diskkeeper...etc

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi all,

I've just created a new VM and installed Windows XP Pro as guest. I changed nothing in guest with the exception of installing VMware Tools.

I did not take any snapshots.[/b]

I started by adding a couple of Shared Folders and disabled "drag and drop to and from this virtual machine" - that set of changes went fine.

I then powered down the VM and changed the memory from 256M to 300M and disabled Audio. Unfortunately, saving the options this time resulted in the following message:

File "C:\Virtual Machines\Test\Windows XP Professional.vmx" line 66: Variable `sharedFolder3.hostPath' is already defined.

File "C:\Virtual Machines\Test\Windows XP Professional.vmx" line 67: Variable `sharedFolder3.guestName' is already defined.

File "C:\Virtual Machines\Test\Windows XP Professional.vmx" line 68: Variable `sharedFolder3.expiration' is already defined.

Not surprisingly, the vmx file contains the following lines (once again, this is the end of the file):

sharedFolder3.present = "TRUE"

sharedFolder3.enabled = "TRUE"

sharedFolder3.readAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder3.hostPath = "C:\Back\"

sharedFolder3.guestName = "Untitled-3"

sharedFolder3.expiration = "never"

adAccess = "TRUE"

sharedFolder3.hostPath = "C:\Back\"

sharedFolder3.guestName = "Untitled-3"

sharedFolder3.expiration = "never"

In addition to the double records, there's also a truncated record.

I guess that verifies that this problem is indeed related somehow to my new computer and not to the VM's which were transfered from the old computer.

However, I'm puzzled as to why this is happening...

The processes that are currently running on my machine (other than VMware and windows processes) are:

Total Commander v7.0

Process Explorer v10.21

ZoneAlarm Pro v7.0.302

PGP Desktop v9.5.3

Winamp v5.33

I have no Anti-virus nor Diskeeper installed (yet).

Is there anything else I can do to help identify the source of the problem?

Thanks again for all your time and efforts,

Michael

[Peter_vm]

I would remove "PGP Desktop" to see if it caused VMware trouble.

[Michael_Silverm]

Hi guys,

Sorry for the long delay, I was out of town...

Peter, I tried your suggestion: I closed PGP along with its services. I also shutdown ZoneAlarm just to be on the safe side but I'm very disappointed to say that it didn't work - the files are still getting corrupted.

I honestly don't know what else can be done except reinstalling windows, installing VMware first making sure it's working and then install everything else one by one until I hit the problem.

However, I will do that only as a last resort as it will take a lot of time to reinstall and configure everything.

If you guys have any other suggestion I'll be more than happy to listen.

Thanks and best regards,

Michael