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  • 1.  import VM with snapshots

    Posted Mar 23, 2014 04:24 PM

    I moved all of my VMs from an old local datastore to new local datasore.

    Is there a way to import a VM with all of its snapshots in to ESXi 5.5?

    If I create a new vm and point HDD to the oldest VMDK, I am gonna loose the snapshot association and this VM is somewhat important to keep with all of its snapshots    .

    Thanks



  • 2.  RE: import VM with snapshots

    Posted Mar 23, 2014 05:06 PM

    What you need to do is to connect the latest .vmdk file for each of your four virtual disks to the VM. You may not be able to do this from the GUI though. In this case attach the base disk and edit the VM's configuration (.vmx) file before powering on the VM. After manually editing the .vmx file you either need to remove and re-add the VM from/to the inventory or reload the VM from the command line.

    Important: To find out the latest snapshot file, don't rely on the file name. Take a look at the .vmdk descriptor/header files to find out the correct snapshot chain.

    André



  • 3.  RE: import VM with snapshots

    Posted Mar 23, 2014 06:05 PM


    ***eter.vmx shows two hard drives
    ide0:0.fileName = "***eter-000006.vmdk"
    scsi0:0.fileName = "***eter_3-000002.vmdk"



  • 4.  RE: import VM with snapshots

    Posted Mar 23, 2014 06:14 PM

    Without the information in the header/descriptor .vmdk files, it's more guessing than knowing. Please download all the small .vmdk descriptor files (you may need to use WinSCP to see them), compress/zip them and attach the archive to a reply post.

    André