"Unable to clean up deleted files. One or more of the disks are busy"

[Varzil]

My main VMware host system had a hardware problem that required replacing the motherboard. Everything else is the same. My VMs load just fine, though VMware thinks they've been moved or copied. Three that were active during the motherboard problems came up locked, but I just took ownership and proceeded.

The problem comes when I try to delete unneeded snapshots. So far it seems that every attempt gets the message referenced in this item's title.

QUESTION: How can I clean up now-unneeded files after such an event - how do I tell which ones aren't needed?

QUESTION: What can I do to prevent this error from occurring? I do a LOT of creation and deletion of snapshots.

Host system runs Windows 7, all the guests are Windows XP linked clones.

[continuum]

when you have linked clones telling which files can be deleted is not possible without seeing the actual case.

You usually can delete *.lck files and lock directories

[Varzil]

Normally VMware takes care of deleting the files. Apparently due to my change of motherboard it is not doing that job. Whether or not I can find and delete the appropriate files from the ones where it already failed, I need to know how to PREVENT it from future failure.

What would cause it to lose its ability to correctly clean up deleted files? What can I do to restore it?

[continuum]

VMs in suspended state or with hot snapshots do not migrate easy to a new host.

In that respect
change of motherboard = change of VMware-host

> What can I do to restore it?

don't know what you are talking about - what is "it" ???