Thank you for the thoughtful and helpful response. I wasn't sure that I'd get a response to a problem with an older VMware version and an even older Windows 2K guest.
Each virtual machine was in a separate folder when backed up. So it's a great comfort for me to know that by copying the entire folder at least my data is safe.
Unfortunately, I was not aware that the VM had to be powered off before copying. In the case of the Windows 2K virtual machine, it was in a suspended state when the backup copy was made.
As indicated in my first post, the host OS failed during an upgrade. As a result I'm unable to simply reopen the backed up Windows 2K guest on the old host and then do a full power off shutdown. The Workstation 5.x on that OS was lost along with any other installed software.
The Question now becomes how best to return the Windows 2K guest to a state where it can be recognized by Workstation 15.x.
Note: The Workstation 15.x I'm trying to move the Windows 2K guest to is installed on a newer computer running the Ubuntu 20.04 OS. To avoid BIOS conflicts mentioned in the link you provided, do I have to find, download and install Workstation 5.x on the old host machine so I can load and then properly power off the Windows 2K guest ... or is there a simpler solution.
Thank you to community and to RaSystemlord for considering my problem.
