Workstation 17 - vhdx support does not work

[PeterPanda]

Hi,

like already mentioned for Workstaton 16.2.2 here https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/VHDX-files-no-longer-work/m-p/2897436#M1744... 

.vhdx file support does not work anymore. I can confirm same behavior for newest release. The workaround to add mounted vhdx drive as physical drive does not work since Workstation 17 supports officially Windows 11 and requires to encrypt the vm, so as far as the guest is set up as "Windows 11 x64" it is not possible.

Is vhdx support dropped or is this a bug? Would be great to get some official statement about this because this might be a deal breaker.

For now I can only map the mounted vhdx drive as network drive.

[RDPetruska]

Not sure if vhdx falls under the same functionality as mounting a virtual disk to the host, but THAT functionality has been dropped in v17 per the release notes (and as I stated in other threads, including the one you linked here, that functionality has been horribly broken since 16.2.0... and the product manager admitted it will not be fixed).  Major showstopper for me with my work, so my work machines are frozen at v16.1.2.

[PeterPanda]

Thanks for mentioning. I have already seen your answer of this topic Map vdisk to Explorer with workstation 17 

Your assumption might be right but an official statement for the vhdx part would be nice anyway.

[PeterPanda]

@scott28tt

Could you please have a look.

[scott28tt]

What would you like me to look at, and what are you thinking that I might do?

[PeterPanda]

@scott28tt 

I have checked the Release Notes for 17 and there is stated:

"The option to map or mount a virtual disk to a drive on the host system is no longer available in Workstation Pro."

What about vhdx support? Me and other users can guess that it is no longer supported but I would like to get some offically statement about that.

I mean, I'm paying 200 bucks for an application which drops features without even notifying the customers about that (vhdx support). Both features were really neat. At least i would expect that vmware communicate why those features were dropped and if there is a chance for an alternative so customers can decide if they want to stick to that product anymore. 

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[scott28tt]

Still not sure why you tagged me.

Although I happen to work for VMware, I do not use the Communities in any official capacity, I’m not part of any of the product teams or support teams.

All I can do is tag @Mikero and hope he comes to this post.

[m-fessler]

It's really a shame, that VHDX support has been dropped!

It was always very practical to use such discs either because they were intended for "the competitor" or because they were created with Disk2vhd for example.
After the company changes/restructuring and thus uncertain future prospects in 2016, things have calmed down again.
But just dropping such a feature... doesn't make you feel good about the future of VMware Workstation.

Greetings,
Martin