Vmware workstation putty for mac5/16/2023 As per the next screenshot, I selected two VMDKs an ext4 formatted disk from a Centos VM and an NTFS one from a Windows VM. On the screen that follows, check the boxes next to the VMDKs you want to be mounted and click on Mount. Next, navigate to the folder containing the VMDK files and press OK to select it. Mounting VMDK disks using Linux Reader from DiskInternals Then, select Containers -> VMware virtual disks and press Next. Once you’ve installed it, select Mount Image option from the Drives menu. It is also capable of mounting VMDKs right out of the box, which is the one feature we’re after. These include Ext2/3/4, HFS and ReiserFS. It is used to mount, or provide access, to a number of file systems configured on Linux machines. Linux Reader is a free tool distributed by DiskInternals. Unmounting a VMDK when done using it Method 4 – Linux Reader When you’re done using the VMDK, dismount the volume from Explorer by right-clicking and selecting Disconnect Virtual Disk. Mounting a VMware VMDK file in Windows using Workstation functionality embedded in Windows ExplorerĪ Windows VMDK is easily mounted and mapped as a drive using VMware Workstation’s functionality This works for both Windows and Linux VMDKs, however, Windows cannot natively read Linux file systems, so you’ll need to use some third-party tool like Explore2fs or Ext2Read that does. The VMDK can then be mounted as a Read-Only or a Read-Write volume by right-clicking on it in Windows Explorer, choosing one of two options. For this method to work, you must put the descriptor and flat files in the same folder. If you have VMware Workstation Player or PRO installed, you will be able to mount VMDK directly as volumes under Windows. Using 7-Zip to copy the contents of a VMDK to a Windows folder Method 3 – VMware Workstation Player How to open VMDK file as an archive using 7-Zip The method works for VMDKs previously attached to either Windows or Linux. Alternatively, extract the entire disk contents using the Extract to folder functionality. To do this, just right-click on the VMDK flat file and select Open Archive to copy the VMDK contents to a folder of your choosing. This is all good news since it will happily open VMDKs without even needing the descriptor file. It will pretty much extract any type of archive you throw at it. Inspecting or changing the hardware version for a VMDK Method 2 – Using 7-Zipħ-Zip is probably the most popular compression tool out there not in the least because it’s freely available for Windows, Linux and other operating systems. This will give you the supported hardware version or else refer to the online documentation. To do this, have a look at the descriptor file of any VM’s VMDK running under Workstation. This is easily fixed by changing the hardware version value in the descriptor file, to that supported by VMware Workstation. The issue is usually related to an unsupported virtual hardware version. TIP: As shown in the video, when using Workstation, you may run into compatibility issues that could prevent you from attaching the VMDK to the VM. The following video shows how to attach the VMDK file of a Windows 7 VM hosted on ESXi 6.5 to a VM running under VMware Workstation Pro just to demonstrate cross-hypervisor functionality. It does not really matter whether the VM is hosted on ESXi, Workstation or some other hypervisor. Method 1 – Attaching a VMDK to an existing VMĪs trivial as it may sound, an easy way to access the contents of a VMDK, is simply to attach it to another functional VM. Note that you can also use tools like VMFS Recovery to remotely mount VMDKs without having to download them locally. Note: The descriptor file is not listed under datastore browser but it can be viewed from the ESXi shell while SSH’ed using a client such as putty or directly from the console.įor this post, I’ve used the VMDKs of both Windows and Linux VMs copying the descriptor and flat files to a folder on my Windows PC, given that some methods covered require both files. Viewing a VMDK descriptor file in a text editor For further details why not have a look at The Anatomy of a VMware Virtual Machine. The flat file is where the actual data lives. It is, in fact, nothing but a text file viewable in any text editor. The descriptor file contains disk information such as its geometry, ids and virtual hardware version. In this post, I’ll go over 4 different ways you can use to extract content from VMDK files.īefore we move on, just a reminder that a VMDK is comprised of 2 parts the descriptor and the flat file. Maybe, a recent update is preventing you from booting the guest OS and you have no backups to rely on. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself needing access to the contents of a virtual machine’s virtual disk (VMDK), perhaps to retrieve data due to a VM biting the dust.
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