Use existing virtual disk on another VM

[touran22]

Andre

The whole point of this screwing up in the first place is that i want to detach a disk: PLHQFS_1 and attach it to another VM.

Is this possible now?

Moderator Note (a.p.): Branched the question from VM failed to lock the disk - cannot open the disk HELP!​ to a new discussion.

[a_p_]

It's certainly possible to use a virtual disk with another VM. However, it's tricky to do this if a virtual disk has active snapshots (~130GB in this case), and it may be confusing if the virtual disk from one folder is attached to a VM in another folder.

Some quick questions:

• do you still need the VM's snapshots? If not, run "Delete All" from the Snapshot Manager to get rid of them. (Note that this may take some time!)
• is the target VM to which you want to attach the virtual disk stored on the same datastore?

What can be done once the virtual disk has been consolidated (i.e. doesn't have snapshots any more), is to detach it from the current VM, move the virtual disk's files (PLHQFS_1.vmdk, and PLHQFS_1-flat.vmdk) to the target VM's folder, rename them, and then attach the virtual disk to the target VM.

Please note that moving, and renaming should be done from the command line using appropriate commands.

If that's what you'd like to do let me know, and I'll be glad to assist you.

André

[touran22]

Andre

• I don't need the VM snapshots, i will delete all.
• Target VM is on the same host but on a different datastore.

"What can be done once the virtual disk has been consolidated (i.e. doesn't have snapshots any more), is to detach it from the current VM, move the virtual disk's files (PLHQFS_1.vmdk, and PLHQFS_1-flat.vmdk) to the target VM's folder, rename them, and then attach the virtual disk to the target VM"

What about PLHQFS_1-000001.vmdk - this holds all the 2018 files?

P.S.

The point of attaching this drive to another VM is so i can run Azure Site Recovery and move the files to Azure.

My Veeam server is also in Azure so won't be able to back this up...

Touran

[a_p_]

What about PLHQFS_1-000001.vmdk - this holds all the 2018 files?

With deleting the snapshots, all data will be merged into the base (flat) .vmdk file, and the snapshot files (*-00000x.vmdk) will be deleted.

The point of attaching this drive to another VM is so i can run Azure Site Recovery and move the files to Azure.

For me to understand this correctly. Will this virtual disk be used permanently on the new VM, or only for the migration to Azure?

André

[touran22]

Andre

It will be used only for migration to Azure.

I have been detaching and re attaching the other disks from PLHQFS to other VM's and migrating to Azure but when i tried with PLHQFS_1 it caused this big problem.

P.S.

I would migrate this server to Azure but its on Server 2003 and not compatible with ASR.

[a_p_]

In this case I'd go ahead, and:

1. shutdown the Windows 2003 server (assuming you don't need it up, and running)
2. run "Delete All" from the Snapshot Manager
3. once finished, ensure that the virtual disk's name in the VM's settings shows up as "PLHQFS_1.vmdk", and detach it from the Windows 2003 server
4. attach "PLHQFS_1.vmdk" disk to the new server

André

[a_p_]

WAIT!

I have been detaching and re attaching the other disks from PLHQFS to other VM's and migrating to Azure ...

Are these virtual disks still attached to other VM's??? In this case deleting the snapshots (if it doesn't error out anyway) may cause issues with the other VMs!

André

[touran22]

Andre

All the VM's have been migrated with the relevant data so are all off anyway.

This is the only VM left.

Let me try and report back.