Editing .vmx files

[MariusRoma]

Sometimes I need to manually edit some .vmx files.

Usually I download the files from my ESXi server, edit them with Wordpad and upload them back.

Sometimes the uploaded files are not recognized and after updating I don't see the typical icon associated with .vmx files.

It look like a file format issue, because if I make the same changes on other .vmx files everything is ok.

What is the right procedure to manually edit a .vmx file using a Windows client?

What are the conditions where a .vmx file is not recognized?

Regards

marius

[rcporto]

Here are some tips for editing vmx files: VMware KB: Tips for editing a .vmx file

And instead of using Wordpad, try using Notepad++.

[cykVM]

First of all I would not use Wordpad but a real text editor like Notepad++ (see: Notepad++ Home).

[CoolRam]

Something the situation where ; is detected as . or otherway round if it is not the rich test editor. Do edit the file in the rich editor.

[JarryG]

There might be some problem with line-breaks: ESXi uses "unix-like" format, with CR. Windows uses CR+LF. You'd better use dos2unix/unix2dos converters when you transfer & edit unix-files on windows...

[continuum]

> What is the right procedure to manually edit a .vmx file using a Windows client?

IMHO the safest and most reliable way is to use WinSCP to connect to the ESXi.
Then use the filebrowser to change directory and doubleclick the file to edit.
That opens the embedded editor which produces clean results: no need to download at all.

Typical reasons why a vmx-file is not accepted:
-bad encoding parameter set
-missing quotes - or wrong quote-type (happens often after copy from websites or forums
-file is blank ...