after power failure in workstation 9. Unable to change virtual machine power state: The file specified is not a virtual disk. How can I recover the VM?

[bapcharin]

After having a power failure i started my VM as I usually do in this cases: powering it up again, but this time the workstation sends me this message: " Unable to change virtual machine power state: The file specified is not a virtual disk"

I already ran this check for all .vmdk files in folder:

/usr/bin/vmware-vdiskmanager -R <.vmdk file>

and it deleted all the .lck files it found. but it didnt help. i still dont know what is the file she thinks isnt a virtual disk and dont know what to do.

Any help is welcome.thanks

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

as a first step, please post a complete list of the VM's files, i.e. the complete output of dir *.* /one from the VM's folder.

This will help to determine which additional information may be required for troubleshooting the issue.

André

[bapcharin]

Hi André, thanks for your reply

attached  you'll find the file list, its a long one as my VM has 4 autoprotect snapshots

sorry I didnt find a way to attach a zip or text file so I inserted the list here

Moderator Note: Moved file listing to an attachment for better readability.

The "Attach" link can be found on the lower right of the edit box.

[a_p_]

You mentioned 4 "Autoprotect" snapshots. However, the file listing shows 23 snapshots!?

If these snasphots were not made by intention, you should consider to disable "Autoprotect", and run regular backups instead.

Anyway, it seems that one of the snapshots became corrupt. All the "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000020-s***.vmdk" files have a zero bytes size. If this is the current snapshot, it may be easy to revert to the previous one. To find out about the correct snapshot chain, please compress/zip the below listed files and attach the .zip archive to a reply post.

• all descriptor/header .vmdk files (the small ones without s###.vmdk in their name)
• the VM's .vmx, .vmsd, and vmware.log file

André

[bapcharin]

Hi André,  yes I was testing with snapshots some years ago. I wasn't aware that I should have deleted old snapshot files. ( and didnt know how anyway :smileyshocked:)

Atached is the requested zip file . problem ocurred July 10 14:29

file is in wetransfer.com site as i dont have a blog

https://we.tl/XWBv6fFvgH

[a_p_]

According to the contents of "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000020.vmdk", it's parent virtual disk is "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000011.vmdk". So what you can do is to edit the VM's configuration (.vmx) file, and set the virtual disk file entry to "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000011.vmdk".

Important: Please make sure that VMware Workstation (or at least the VM's tab) is closed when you edit the .vmx file!

Once everything works, you may delete the corrupted "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000020*.vmdk" files.

André

[bapcharin]

Hi André, thanks for the information, I am out of town and be back there next saturday,so I'll write you as soon as I can do the changes you explain

[bapcharin]

Hi André

I changed the line in the .vmx file as you said. so it will try to startup from the parent snapshot 000011.vmdk

now I get this message:

Unable to change virtual machine power state: Unable to open file "/home/alejandra/Documents/vmware/XpProfesional/Windows XP Professional-cl1-000011.vmdk":

One of the disks in this virtual machine is already in use by a virtual machine or by a snapshot

[a_p_]

Ok, let's try to fix this by replacing the corrupted (zero bytes) .vmdk files.

With VMware Workstation closed, reset the current virtual disk's name in the .vmx file back to "Windows XP Professional-cl1-000020.vmdk" and replace the corrupted ...-s##.vmdk files with the ones I've attached. The attached files contain the required metadata for the 100GB split virtual disk.

Note that the attached .zip archive doesn't contain the desctiptor file ("Windows XP Professional-cl1-000020.vmdk"). This will not be replaced, because it contains required information for the snapshot chain.

André

[bapcharin]

Hi, sorry, can you tell where in the mssg is the attachment link located? am unable to find it

[a_p_]

It's embedded at the bottom of the reply.

Did you open the discussion, or are you only looking at the reply in the Inbox?

André

[bapcharin]

Hi André.

I was looking at the reply in the inbox, then switched to discussion view as you suggested and there I found your file.

I did as you mentioned and started up the machine and YES! it started UP!!!

reviewing the things I did that day before the machine crashed, I see that there are some files missing procesed after 10:04 am, I think after that time was executed the last autoprotect snapshot, the one that was currupted ( 000020.vmdk), so ok those files are gone, no problem I can get some of them from other sources.

So Machine i working fine ( except for those files missing). to finish this report, please tell me if I need to rollback to the previous snapshot or I just let the next autoprotect snapshot execute by itself and let things go alone?

[bapcharin]

One more thing, not without say a big BIG THANK YOU for your valuable , patient and kind help.

About the other files..... I just want to have in this folder the files currently in use, those created from the current autoprotect scheme. The previous files are old files  with snapshots I had when I was learning to make snapshots and a previous try to make an auto protect snapshot.

Can you tell me what files must I delete, or how can I recognize the files in this chain of autoprotect snapshots and delete the rest?

What about the .lck files and/or directories?

And (last) is there any literature in this site or elsewhere where I can learn about this great technology ( just for begginers ofc !  :smileyshocked:))

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

It's up to you, whether to use the Autoprotect feature. However, with the current number of snapshots it may be best to clone the VM (if you do have sufficient free disk space), and - if the clone works as expeted - then delete the old VM to reduce the occupied disk space on the host, and to likely improve the VM's performance. Also remember that snapshots are not a replacement for backups!

You can find several great sites with information about specific topics for VMware Workstation on the Internet. VMware itself also maintains a documentation library which is a great resource.

André

[wila]

Hi,

Just to make sure as you are mentioning "files such as .lck".

Do NOT delete snapshot files manually from within windows explorer as you will end up breaking your VM again.

You consolidate/delete snapshots from within VMware Workstation snapshot manager.

Before doing so make sure you have plenty of free disk space.

--

Wil

[bapcharin]

Thank you Wila, I'll do as you  noted