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GlenInAK
Contributor
Contributor

VMWare player problem with snapshot. Image created as a snapshot using workstation, can't expand disk.

I have VMWare Player 12.1.1.  I have a system image with a 20GB disk.  It was created by someone with Workstation.  I receive the following error when trying to expand the disk:

ExpandError.png

This system is a snapshot image.  I don't have the ability to manage snapshot images in player.  The list of files in the directory is as follows:

ExpandErrorFileList.png

There is nothing in the vmsd file, the vmsd.bak file has:

ExpandErrorvmsdbak.png

I need to expand the disk image to 40GB.  I don't care about any snapshots.  I would like to reset the system to forget about the original disk if possible, merge the original with the snapshot if possible.  The current version of the image is good to go forward with. 

Thanks for any help,

Glen

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4 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Welcome to the Community,

what you can do is consolidate the snapshot by cloning the virtual disk, and changing the .vmdk's name in the configuration (.vmx) file.

The following command will create a new virtual disk "ICS410 Windows 10.vmdk" without modifying the source .vmdk files.

vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r "Virtual Disk-000001.vmdk" -t 0 "ICS410 Windows 10.vmdk"

Unless you have vmware-vdiskmanager.exe you can download it from https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1023856 (see Attachments section).

Make sure you have VMware Workstation, or at least the VM's tab closed to make sure the configuration file is re-read after the change.

André

continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Hi
I answer to your request via private message.
Follow Andres suggestion - without vmware-vdiskmanager all you can do is to create a full clone with 3rd party imaging tools like Ghost ....
You would add a second disk - boot into a LiveCD and do a disk-to-disk clone.
A smart clone-tool like Ghost can resize the partitions on the fly.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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GlenInAK
Contributor
Contributor

Andre,

Thanks for your response.  I ran the command and it looked like it ran successfully.  10%...20%.. etc. 

I reran the expand and it is still referencing the same disk file and gives the same error.  Is there something else I needed to do (perhaps with a config file) before I can reread the VM definition file?

ExpandErrorSameDisk.png

Most grateful for your help!

Thanks

Glen

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

It seems that you missed

... , and changing the .vmdk's name in the configuration (.vmx) file.

from my previous post

André

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