The file specified is not a virtual disk

[Imru68]

Hello,

For some reason, I can't launch my VM anymore.

Of course, I have all my professional documents inside, and I don't have a snapshot.

Please note that I only have one disk for my entire vm, not several. (see the listfile)

I'm attaching the list file and VMX + VMSD.

If I can't save the VM, I'd like to recover the files inside, thanks in advance

[a_p_]

That's kind of weird, two files with the same name!?

23/06/2023 19:32 4ÿ380 Windows 10 x64.vmx
15/06/2023 13:51 4ÿ355 Windows 10 x64.vmx

Anyway, to find out what may be wrong with the .vmdk file, extract the two files from the attached .zip archive, then drag&drop your .vmdk onto the .cmd file. If the .vmdk header isn't corrupted, the scrips will extract the metadata from the .vmdk file. Please compress/zip that Metadata*.bin file, and attach the .zip archive to your next reply.

André

[Imru68]

That's kind of weird, two files with the same name!?

For the 23/06 file the problem is i don't know why but i delete it with the tool "Privazer" and can't recover it... for the second file that is :

Anyway, to find out what may be wrong with the .vmdk file, extract the two files from the attached .zip archive, then drag&drop your .vmdk onto the .cmd file. If the .vmdk header isn't corrupted, the scrips will extract the metadata from the .vmdk file. Please compress/zip that Metadata*.bin file, and attach the .zip archive to your next reply.

I try it but doesn't work

I'm desperate, this problem is weighing heavily on my professional life... at least like to recover the files, and if necessary, never use vmware again...

[Imru68]

For the problem of the missing vmx file, I think that if the VMDK file is repaired, I could create a new VM using an existing VMDK file to generate a new, clean VMX. The only condition is to have a working vmdk file... I don't know how to do it...

[a_p_]

Thing become even stranger .. The file exists, but cannot be found!?
In case that you don't have a recent backup, please backup the files, and verify if the file system has issues using the chkdsk command.

What does the following PowerShell command return, when you run it in the VM's folder.

$vmdkfiles=Get-Item *.vmdk ; foreach ($vmdkfile in $vmdkfiles) {write-host "`n$vmdkfile"; Get-Content $vmdkfile.name -Encoding Byte -TotalCount 1536 | Format-Hex }

André

[Imru68]

When I try to move my VM folder from an external SSD to my machine, I get this error message for the VMDK file: "An error prevents you from copying the file. The file or directory is unreadable".

[Imru68]

The Powershell command tells me the same thing

[Imru68]

Chkdsk is telling me disk have problem too

[a_p_]

That's not good at all. Seems the SSD is either physically damaged, or the file system has logical issues.
Trying to fix this using chkdsk /f at this time is risky, and could make things even worse.

I'm afraid that I can't help you much in this case, other than recommending to look for a data recovery tool. Maybe such a tool is able to deal with exFAT, and can copy/rescue the files.

André

[Imru68]

I will try to recover the files, thanks for your help, I now understand that the problem comes from the SSD which is now unreadable.

[Imru68]

I've got some news.

I have recovered the VMDK file with a software, now the VMDK is placed on a drive that works properly.

But when I try to create a new VM from the VMDK, I always have this problem:

When I try your Metadata reader, I get this error message in the log file :

And when I try the Powershell command directly in the :

[Imru68]

I have a file inside that contains absolutely all my work, I'm really frustrated to see that the file weighs 256GB that has my data inside but no way to access it.

[a_p_]

The header has been overwritten/wiped by binary zeroes.

Do you remember the virtual disk's provisioned size, i.e. the size that had been configured in the VM's settings, or do you have a backup - even an older one - from which we can retrieve that information?

André

[Imru68]

I dont have any backup of this, i guess 236GB, 2 processors and 2 cores per processor

[a_p_]

Please replace

$HeaderSize = 1536

with

$HeaderSize = 32899072

in the .ps1 file, then drag&drop the .vmdk onto the .cmd file again. Although an error message will be logged, this should create a Metadata-...bin file with the above mentioned site.

Please note that due to the corruption, I cannot guarantee that the Metadata file does not contain any user data, so please consider to review that file before you compress/zip it, and attach the .zip archive to a reply post.

Based on how much data has been zeroed out, or corrupted, there might be a (low) chance to rescue some data.

André