unable to edit encrypted VMX file

[brazzmunk]

Good Day,

I have encrypted vmx file which has an instance of vmdk that was deleted. Machine is unable to start and i cannot "remove" the HD in settings. I would like to be able to edit the vmx file and remove this instance.

One option i found was to use Fusion but i am running windows 7 and VMware does not have an option to edit the vmx file.

Thanks for the help!

[abhilashhb]

Hi brazzmunk,

Welcome to the community.

Which hardware version ahve you created you VM with?

[brazzmunk]

vmware 9.0.2. I am not sure what you are referring to as hardware?

[a_p_]

What exactly is it that was deleted? Please provide some more details to understand what happened and to see whether there's some way to workaround this.

André

[brazzmunk]

I had 2 vmdk drives ( say os.vmdk and backup vmdk-01, 02...etc), one with guest OS the second with backup data. After a hard reset the guest OS vmdk got corrupt and i had to erase it ( maybe too rush but what's done is done). vmx config now lists a new vmdk reference backup-03.vmdk ( which is part of the second drive) as a drive of it's own. VM won't boot with this configuration. If i can get and delete the entry with this reference i hope it will solve my problems. I am trying to re-install the guest OS and access the secondary vmdk drive.

Thanks for the help

[a_p_]

When you open the VM's settings, which file names show up as the virtual disks file names? Which files do you see in the VM's folder, please provide a full list of files?

André

[brazzmunk]

in Vm settings i have:

backup-s039.vmdk where the guest OS was before

and i have backup.vmdk underneath as second scsi drive

in folder i have both of files but backup-s039.vmdk is part of the backup.vmdk drive

Thanks

[a_p_]

That's really strange!? Anyway, I'd suggest - unless you already did this - that you backup the complete VM's folder at this time to ensure things won't become worse. Then open the VM's settings, remove the first virtual disk (the one which points to backup-s039.vmdk) and add another virtual disk which you later use to install the guest OS. Click OK then open the VM's settings again, select the newly created virtual disk, click the  Advanced and select SCSI 0:0 (assuming you are using SCSI disks). If everything works as expected, you should now have a system disk on SCSI 0:0 on which you can re-install the guest OS and a data disk on SCSI 0:1.

André

[brazzmunk]

The issue is that the remove option is grayed out and since the vmx in encrypted i am not able to edit it in notepad equivalent.

Thanks

[a_p_]

I tried to reproduce this with WS 8, and the Remove button is enabled when I select the misconfigured/missing virtual disk. Can you confirm, the button is grayed out with the virtual disk selected in the hardware inventory?

André

[brazzmunk]

correct, all HDs are grayed out. did you encrypt the vm when reproducing?

[a_p_]

Yes, I did. However, what I did was to delete the system vmdk files, so the displayed file did not exist in he folder anymore. Maybe you can try to temporarily move all the .vmdk files to a sub-directory to see whether this makes a difference.

André

[brazzmunk]

when i do that it tells me that system cannot find the file specified for HDs and still grays it out

[a_p_]

Unfortunately I don't have VMware Workstation 9 installed. Maybe another forum member is able to reproduce the issue with this version!?

André

[brazzmunk]

I think becasue the VM was hard reset at initial point of issue. I tried suspending the machine in another vm and the REMOVE buttons are grayed out too.

[a_p_]

Do you see any .vmss or .vmem files in the VM's folder. If yes, delete them (or move them to another folder), then close the VM's tab in VMware Workstation and re-select the VM. You may also want to check whether there exist any .lck files or folders when the VM's tab is closed (or VMware Workstation isn't running) and if so delete them.

André

[brazzmunk]

all deleted, still the same. Is there a standalone program i can use to edit the encrypted vmx and delete the entries?

[a_p_]

I'm not aware of any workaround to access an encrypted VM. You either have to use the GUI or unencrypt the VM.

André

[brazzmunk]

Thanks for the help anyway