how do you fix a broken CID chain?

[puffadder]

I accidentally deleted one of my snaphots and now my vm will not start. I have been unable to undelete the deleted snapshot and corresponding files. Is there ANY WAY to get my vm up and running again? I had a total of 8 snapshots. #4 was deleted manually. I am thinking I can go back to snapshot 3 and get it running but I would lose some valuable work if I did. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! My need is urgent. Right now I am not touching anything until I figure this out. Please help!

[continuum]

Say a nice thank you to the authors of the snapshot documentation.

Coming up with the "DELETE" label for a button that should be named "MERGE" was really a great idea.

Absolutly conta-intuitive and miss-guiding - this author must have a hidden mean streak.

No user without a deep understanding of the things under the hood can understand that the VMware "DELETE" in snapshotmanager does the exact opposite to what "DELETE" means ecerywhere else.

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

ok so I went to run the command you sugegsted but there are no snapshots in my directory any longer. I use to have snapshots 1,2,3,5,6,7,8. Apparently the create/delete suggestion you had deleted the old snapshots. I still have a backup of the working vm before I created the new snapshot so I can revert if necessary. What do I do to get back to a stable snapshot #3 ? If you remember snapshot 4 was the one I lost.

<you're it />

[continuum]

when I last saw the directory you had 1,2,3,5,6,7,8 snapshot.

What have you done since then ?

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

I did what you suggested. I created a new snapshot and then used the vmware "delete" to delete it.

[continuum]

are you talking about actually files or the display of snapshotmanager ?

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

the vmdk files of the snapshots are now gone in the directory. The snapshot manager still shows no snapshots.

[continuum]

I have no idea how you managed that ? what have you done exactly ???

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

ok. I had a working vm which fixed for me. In the directory were the old snapshots 1,2,3,5,6,7,8. #4 was missing so you rebuilt the chain. The vm loaded and I copied all of my important files out of it onto the host computer. These were doc files, outlook emails, etc. I then wanted to use the vm feature GOTO to go to snapshot #3 which was my latest stable version before snapshot 4. The plan was to copy in my important files back in and then use that version point forward. When I opened snapshot manager it did not show any snapshots. Just the base vm. So you said ...

create a new vmsd-file

to do this create new snapshot with current state

preferably when the VM is powered off. When done use "DELETE" against the new snapshot. This will recreate a new vmsd-file and when done

So I did that. I then looked at snapshot manager again and it still showed no snapshots. I sent you a PM about it. I looked in the directory at that point and saw that there were no snapshot vmdk files anymore. So that is where I am at now. I do have a backup copy of the entire directory before I created the snapshot mentioned above. So I can revert back if need be.

[continuum]

oh dear - did you really create a blank vmsd - file manually ?

then that would explain it ...

well - next task is to create a new VM with state of vaio...-000003.vmdk

To do this open a cmd and browse to your backup-directory

Then run this command from that directoy

vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "vaio...-000003.vmdk" - t 0 "new.vmdk"

please add full path to vmware-vdiskmanager when running the command - also use correct filename for the vaio?-000003.vmdk

The result "new.vmdk" will then combine the basedisk with the healthy snapshots 1.2 and 3.

That "new.vmdk will then be the starting point for a new VM - it is a single vmdk - so snapshotmanager will display no snapshots.

Boot with that new.vmdk and then populate this VM with the files we recovered last night

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

not sure I am following you 100%. Let me know if this will work ...

- I am going to copy my backup contents to my working directory so I am back int he state I was before I created the vm snapshot and "lost" the other snapshots.

- I will then open a cmd window and run your vmware-vdiskmanager.exe command below

I don't understand "The result "new.vmdk" will then combine the basedisk with the healthy snapshots 1.2 and 3." Will running that vdiskmanager.exe do this?

You then say "boot with that new.vmdk". How do I do that? Just run the main vmx file VAIOLAPTOP.vmx ???

[continuum]

excuse me - when I am in a hurry I take too much for granted ...

This is current state :

to be able to skip the missing vmdk-file in the complete snapshot chain I had to disable the function and display of snapshotmanager.

So at this point now snapshotmanager must be ignored. Simply forget it ....

Your snapshot chain is healthy if you only use the first part : basedisk - snap1 - snap2 - snap3

Understand that ? - ask if not !

We agreed on the next steps:

• rebuild a similar VM with as much as we can recover from the corrupted one

• then copy the recovered user-data into the new VM and continue work from that point

To get there we now have two options:

Plan A: directly use your backup-VM

Plan B: create a full clone using the healthy parts of the backup-VM

got that ?

Plan A:

edit the VAIOLAPTOP.vmx and configure

scsi0:0.filename = "VAIOLAPTOP-000003.vmdk"

hen delete VAIOLAPTOP-000005.vmdk up to VAIOLAPTOP-000008.vmdk

delete all existing *.vmsn and *.vmsd files

done - start by doubleclicking VAIOLAPTOP.vmx

Plan B:

create clone with vmware-vdiskmanager a la

vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "VAIOLAPTOP-000003.vmdk" -t 0 "new.vmdk"

next copy new.vmdk and VAIOLAPTOP.vmx into a new directory - this two files are all you need

then edit VAIOLAPTOP.vmx in the new directory and set

scsi0:0.filename = "new.vmdk"

done - start by doubleclicking VAIOLAPTOP.vmx

Which one is best .... ?

Plan A:

if you still need the old, earlier snapshots ...

don't know why you would need them ? - not recommended

Plan B:

advantage: this gets rid of all old snapshots, performs best and is a good clean start

I would certainly go this way

whatever you choose - you do not need to copy the files again

recommeded Plan B does not change anything in the backup-directory as it creates a new fresh clone

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

The detailed explanation/steps are VERY appreciated. Thanks. I am trying plan B right now. It looks like it will take a while. Anything else I should know when it's done making the new vmdk?

<you're it />

[puffadder]

When it came up it asked if I had moved or copied the vm. I chose moved. It then proceeded with a chkdsk and did a whole bunch of stuff. I did not expect it to do that. It went thru and deleted corrupt attribute list entries, attribute records, index entries, etc.. It is still going at the moment. Is this expected ?????

[puffadder]

after all of these chkdsk corrections I don't know if I feel this build is more stable than the snapshot8 build you put together !

[puffadder]

bump

[continuum]

do you remember if snapshot 3 was taken while the VM was running ? - that would explain this issues.

we had moved several vmsn files to the "unused" directory - check if that dir contains a vmsn for snap 3

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

It was taken with the vm off. There are vmsn files for 1,2,3,5,6,7,8 in the "unused" directory. There is a leftover file in the main directory for snapshot 6 .. a "vmem" file. Snapshot 6 was taken while the machine was running. I am assuming that is a snapsot of the memory while the vm was running.

[continuum]

It was taken with the vm off.

Hmm - then it should have a consistent state.

Anyway - hard to judge this without looking at both systems in depth.

If you think that the VM I created with snapshot 8 runs better - use that one.

Personally I would rather create anew one from scratch ....

... better remove that old vmem-file

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[puffadder]

When the vm first booted it asked if I had "copied" a previous vm or "moved it". I chose "moved it". Does that matter? Should I have chosen "copied it"?

[continuum]

no - move is the good choice here - otherwise it would use a new MAC for the virtual nic and you do not want that in this case

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay