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User1809
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Workstation 15.5 absolute path

Ever since upgrading from workstation 14 to 15.5, every new Virtual Machine I create the virtual disk path is always absolute instead of relative path. So every time I move a VM I get an error that it can't find the virtual disk and if I copy the VM to another location it will always use the original virtual disk since the path is absolute. Is anyone else seeing this problem with 15.5?

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wila
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Hi,

Thanks for the video, that does explain what is happening.

At around 1:00 you press the browse button to move the virtual disk into its folder.

But.. by doing that you make the path absolute.

Without pressing browse and navigating to the folder the disk will already be in the virtual machine folder.

In other words, when you are at this screen:

pastedImage_0.png

do NOT press the browse button, just click Next and the VM will behave as you want.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva

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User1809
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Has anyone else tried this to see if its an issue with 15.5?

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continuum
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Your VM - your rules .... and your paths ...

Feel free to switch to relative paths.


________________________________________________
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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User1809
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In Workstation 14 every VM was defaulted as a relative path and never had to worry about this before

"Feel free to switch to relative paths."

How do I switch this?

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continuum
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Have not looked into 15.5 myself but I assume that it still uses relative paths when that is possible.

So something seems to be strange in your setup - do you eventually try to run VMs from a directory that syncs to  Onedrive ?


________________________________________________
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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User1809
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do you eventually try to run VMs from a directory that syncs to  Onedrive ?

No, everything is on one main system no syncs to anything. If the VM is create in C:\VM Test\Test.vmdk and copied to D:\VM Test the virtual disk still points to C:\VM Test\Test.vmdk. I then have to remove the virtual disk from the hardware settings and then add the correct one at D:\VM Test\Test.vmdk. I've never ever had this problem with anything until I upgraded.

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xishengzhang
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Hello, User1809

Thanks for your posting. There should be nothing changes on vmdk relative/absolute path in Workstation15.5 release. Could you please check whether your vmdk is under the same path with where the vmx located? if the vmdk is added laterly under different path with where vmx file is in, then the path will be shown in absolute path, or its path is relative path.

Could you please have a try and share me your detailed steps?

Thanks

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User1809
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The vmx and vmdk is in the same folder.

This is the steps I take when creating a new VM.

Create New Virtual Machine

Custom

Workstation 15.x

I will install the operating system later

Windows 10 x64

Virtual Machine Name: Test

Location: C\VM Test

Firmware Type: UEFI

Number of processors: 1

Number of cores per processor: 4

Memory: 4GB

Network Type: NAT

I/O Controller: LSI Logic SAS

Select a Disk Type: SCSI

Create a new virtual disk

Size: 40GB

Store virtual disk as a single file

Disk file: C:\VM Test\Test.vmdk

Finish

Copy folder from C:\VM Test

Paste folder at D:\VM Test

File – Open – Select D:\VM Test\Windows 10 x64.vmx

Go to settings – Hardware – Hard disk (SCSI) and the path is pointing to C:\VM Test\Test.vmdk instead of D:\VM Test\Test.vmdk

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continuum
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Why dont you switch to relative paths ???

Just read your vmx-file and remove the absolute part of the path ...


________________________________________________
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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wila
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Hi,

I'm not from VMware, but was concerned about a change in behavior.

FWIW, I am not able to reproduce your issue with VMware Workstation 15.5, this is on a machine that previously had no VMware Workstation installed.

Under all possible variations on your described scenario above I would get a virtual disk with relative paths, aka no path details for the .vmdk file in the vmx.

I tried about 7 or 8 variations of what you mention.

Now I'm not saying that you aren't having this issue, but to me it looks like something specific to your configuration.

Otherwise I must be missing "the critical step" that causes it.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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User1809
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wila​  xishengzhang

Wila thanks for taking the time to check it out.

I attached a video showing exactly how it is happening for me. Let me know what you think i'm doing wrong.

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wila
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Hi,

Thanks for the video, that does explain what is happening.

At around 1:00 you press the browse button to move the virtual disk into its folder.

But.. by doing that you make the path absolute.

Without pressing browse and navigating to the folder the disk will already be in the virtual machine folder.

In other words, when you are at this screen:

pastedImage_0.png

do NOT press the browse button, just click Next and the VM will behave as you want.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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User1809
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wila

Wila thanks, has this always been like this in workstation or is this something new? I honestly can't remember not hitting browse but I must have skipped it in the past or my other VMs would not be relative path.

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wila
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Hi,

I _think_ it has always been like that, but don't know for sure.

The only way to find out would be by testing.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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