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Autovon
Contributor
Contributor
‎02-05-2018 01:10 PM

VMDK not bootable

We have a Windows 10 vmdk that fails on boot with "OS not found."  We need files stored on that VM.  (Bad practice, I know.)

We tried:

  • Boot from a variety of LiveCDs.  Fails because vmdk is corrupt and LiveCD OS can not see .vmdk-resident partitions.
  • Mount vmdk using vmware command-line utility.  Fails same reason.
  • Mount with 7-zip, PowerISO, OSFMount.  All fail, vmdk unreadable.
  • Create new guest OS using same files.  Fails, returns same error.
  • vmware command-line repair.  Fails, returns no result.

The data stored in the vmdk is intact.  We iknow this because we applied a test (read-only) version of a particular $700(!) tool that displays 100% of the original Windows file-system. The vendor states that any visible file is recoverable in the full version of their tool.

Question:  what is this very expensive software doing to analyze and display the contents of the vmdk, and how can we do this using other, more accessible tools?

Thanks for your help.

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1 Reply
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
‎02-05-2018 02:54 PM

Hi
what software are you talking about ?
Anyway - can you use the vmdk with Workstation ?
If yes - this means that the vmdk itself is healthy - only the partitiontable seems to be damaged.
If no - this means that the vmdk itself is corrupt - this requires a completely different approach.
Have you tried to use testdisk from a LiveCD ?


________________________________________________
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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