Note that the healthy VM should have exactly the same OS as the dead one to prevent any formatting incompatibility issues.
![vmware workstation 11 open vmdk vmware workstation 11 open vmdk](https://vincerants.com/wp-content/uploads/open-vmdk-1.png)
![vmware workstation 11 open vmdk vmware workstation 11 open vmdk](https://tipsmake.com/data2/images/how-to-extract-vmdk-virtual-disk-file-on-windows-picture-2-kTmGQjgw4.jpg)
If you have enough resources on the ESXi host, or if you just can use one more server, do not invent the wheel and add the VMDK to another VM. Well, that may sound a bit trivial, but why you just don’t connect the VMDK to the healthy VM? Connecting the disk to another VM, for my money, is the easiest and the most reliable way to get your data. Mounting the disk as a read-write volume Just add the VMDK to another ESXi VM There are two types of methods for doing that: methods allowing to modify the disk content (mounting VMDK as a read-write volume) and methods exclusively for data recovery (opening the file as a read-only volume). Ok, with that being said, let’s now look at how you get your data. Be careful and do not blame on me if you do screw things up! Also note that doing things I write here may be pretty risky as most of the methods I discuss today allow you to access a VM disk as a read-write volume.
#Vmware workstation 11 open vmdk how to
I’ll teach you only how to extract data when you have a healthy VMDK yet you cannot start the VM for some reason. Locally, you can see both these files with their real size.Īt this point, I’d like to mention that unless any of those guys works, none of the ways to extract VMDK file content described in my article works! Today I don’t look at those cases when you need to get your data back from the damaged files. Then, a message asking you to allow downloading multiple files emerges.
![vmware workstation 11 open vmdk vmware workstation 11 open vmdk](https://cdn.diskinternals.com/media/en/products/vmfs-recovery/remote/vmdk_running_vm_open_as_uneraser.png)
#Vmware workstation 11 open vmdk download
The only moment when VMDK content comes to the fore is when you download the file. In Datastore browser, both the descriptor and the *flat.vmdk are displayed as a single VMDK volume. The *flat.vmdk file, in its turn, is where the VM data reside. The descriptor keeps such parameters as IDS, virtual hardware version, and disk geometry. The former is nothing more than a text file viewable in any text editor. Each disk consists of two smaller files: the descriptor and the flat file. Well, first, let’s look under the VMDK hood. I do not want to write much about them in this article as they have many things in common in terms of extracting data. That’s absolutely true that there are several disk types. So, in my today’s article, I discuss how to retrieve data from the dead VM disk that is neither damaged nor encrypted. Decrypting is a pretty broad topic to be included in this post. But, if you are out of luck and the VM is dead, you need another method to extract its VMDK file content.ĭisclaimer: none of the methods I discuss here works if there is encrypted data on the disk. Sometimes, you badly need your ESXi VM data, but that thing just cannot be powered on for some reason! Well, you can try starting that VM one more time according to this article and access the data with a little luck. But, if you are out of luck and the VM is dead, you need another method to extract its VMDK file content. Finally rename MyNewImage.vmdk to vmdkname.vmdk as it was originally named.Sometimes, you badly need your ESXi VM data, but that thing just cannot be powered on for some reason! Well, you can try starting that VM one more time according to this article and access the data with a little luck. Once done, move the original vmdk files to a different directory. The new vmdk file will then be created: Creating disk 'MyNewImage.vmdk' open the command prompt and run the following command "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -r "d:\VMLinux\vmdkname.vmdk" -t 0 MyNewImage.vmdk
![vmware workstation 11 open vmdk vmware workstation 11 open vmdk](https://dev.nakivo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Comparing-a-standalone-descriptor-of-the-ESXi-format-and-a-built-in-descriptor-of-the-Workstation-format.png)
In order to merge vmdk files, open a Command Prompt and CD to the directory where the vmdk files are located.Īssume you have the following vmdk files : vmdkname.vmdk The installation directory path may be look like as C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player Once downloaded, unzip and rename 1023856-vdiskmanager-windows-7.0.1.exe into vmware-vdiskmanager.exe and copy or move to the directory where VMware Player is installed. you can download vdiskmanager-windows-7.0.1.exe.zip as attachment file. VMware Player doesn’t have this.Ī little utility can be downloaded separately from the VMware site (KB Article 1023856). However, this is only available if you have VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation installed. In order to merge split vmdk files into one, you need to use the vmware-vdiskmanager command.