snapshot vmsn file is missing..

[thakuraj]

My vmware workstation turn off accidently and when I turned it on. it shows the below message. When I search of this file it is no where on my computer os it possible to recover this file somehow.. It is really very crucial virtual machine for me. Please help

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

please provide a list of files in the VM's folder (with file names, extensions, sizes, time stamps) and attach the current vmware.log, the .vmx file and the .vmsd file to your next post.

I'd also recommend that - unless already done - you backup the VM's files.

André

[thakuraj]

Thank you for your quick reply. I am new for VMware community & VMware. Below is the screenshot for all the files in the VM folder. Also, attached the relavant files.  I did have an online backup but unfortunately it didn't backup all the files.

[a_p_]

Seems something went wrong with uploading the files. The .vmx file as well as the .vmsd file are corrupt (contain parts of the log file). Please upload/attach these files again.

André

[thakuraj]

Please try now and let me know. Thanks

[continuum]

please fix your explorer settings so that it shows extensions - you still post the wrong files

[a_p_]

In case these are the correct files, you should immediately run a chkdsk on the physical drives!

André

[thakuraj]

Yes, these are the right files. But how can I run chkdsk on server 2008 machine.Thanks

[thakuraj]

I tried to run chkdsk on the D drive where the files are located but it doesn't run while the server is running. It needs restart for chkdsk and it will run at the startup.

Any further suggestions to recover the missing file. Thanks

[thakuraj]

Or is there any option I can boot the virtual machine with one the old screen shot say 5 or 4. Will serive with it. But when I try to do that it still asks for the same file

[a_p_]

Chkdsk is not meant to recover the missing .vmsn file, but more to check the integrity of your drive. Looking at the contents of the two file you posted and the unusual "...000005-000001..." file name I think there could be an error on the disk which you should fix asap to not run into more issues. After running chkdsk we can look into recreating the VM's configuration (vmx) file.

André

[thakuraj]

Thanks André, I have started the chkdsk "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors". It will take a long time to finish. Would it possible, if in the meatime we can look into recreating the VM's configuration (vmx) file. or we can boot it with of the old screenshot..

Once it is fixed,I can move to different server on the same network. Actually this is one of the live server which I migrated for 2-3 days on virtual server but it suddenly crashed before I could migrate it.. 

[thakuraj]

Hi, don't want to pile on you but could you please tell me of you are working on it or waiting for further info frommy end.

[a_p_]

Would it possible, if in the meatime we can look into recreating the  VM's configuration (vmx) file. or we can boot it with of the old  screenshot..

Since you cannot access the system anyway while chkdsk is running, we should wait and see what chkdsk finds. (I assume you run chkdsk with the "/f" option!?) The files in the VM's folder do not mach 100% what I see in the vmware.log file, that's another reason why we should wait.

Btw how much free disk space do you have on the disk. IMO it would be a good idea to clone the virtual disks and create a new virtual machine with attaching the cloned virtual disks.

André

[thakuraj]

The chdsk I have run through windows only. It will get finish in 15 mins or so..

The free space available is 244GB. How would you like me to clone the virtual drives. Shall I do simple copy and paste to the new folder?

[a_p_]

No, to clone a virtual disk we will use the vmware-vdiskmanager utility. First we need to determine which vmdk file is the latest snapshot for each of the 2 virtual disks. From the file list it looks like this is the ...000006.vmdk file in both cases.

If this is the case we need to create a new folder for the new VM (e.g. D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a) and clone both virtual disks to this folder using:

"%programfiles%\vmware\vmware workstation\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -r "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3\Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000006.vmdk" -t 0 "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk"

as well as

"%programfiles%\vmware\vmware workstation\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -r "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3\200GB-000006.vmdk" -t 0 "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\200GB.vmdk"

(without line breaks)

and then create a new virtual custom virtual machine in this folder to which the cloned virtual disks will be attached (instead of creating new virtual disks)

André

[thakuraj]

It is giving me below error message for both commands:

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Serverc\200GB-000006" -t 0 "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\200GB.vmdk"
Creating disk 'D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\200GB.vmdk'
Failed to convert disk: A file was not found (0x3000900000004).

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Serverc\200GB-000006.vmdk" -t 0 "D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\200GB.vmdk"
Creating disk 'D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Server3a\200GB.vmdk'
Failed to convert disk: A file was not found (0x3000900000004).

Am I doing something wrong here?

[a_p_]

"D:\IT\VMware_PCs\Serverc\200GB-000006.vmdk"

Is this a typo? According to the log file the "old" folder name is "Server3"!?

André

[thakuraj]

sorry it's my  mistake.. it's working now. It's taking time just now 0% done..

[a_p_]

Yes, depending on the virtual disk's size it will take some time. However this command will also consolidate the snapshots into one single .vmdk file  for each of the two virtual disks. This will save disk space and also improves performance for the virtual machine.

André