Unable to delete snapshot, Unable to shrink disk

[graphingcalcula]

Hi,

I am using VMware Fusion 4.1.3 setup with Windows 7. The initial disk has a size of about 45GB, the on-disk size of the entire vm (of course mostly the disk) is 124GB.

I have had two snapshots. One of them I removed successfully (using the interface). Days later I wanted to remove the other one. It told me I needed to free up about 20 additional GB of first space. After I closed the dialog box, the snapshot name has changed to something technical, and after restarting VMware, the snapshot wasn't visible in the list anymore.

I created another snapshot and tried to delete it. The same issue occured.

Since then, my VM has grown to the 124GB, filling almost all the space left on my guest disk.

I am unable to shrink the VM using the VMware Tools, since this option is disabled.

Is there anything I can do? VMware only starts when I free up additional space on the disk, which it then promptly claims. Without a method to reclaim the space, this VM is a throwaway solution

Thanks
gc

[WoodyZ]

To help figure out what is what, the best way to provide comprehensive diagnostic information is to use the "Collect Support Information" command from the VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > Collect Support Information and then attach the .tgz file it created on your Desktop to a reply post.

[graphingcalcula]

Hi WoodyZ,

first of all, thanks!

I collected the information.. is there something specific I could send you?

I feel a little uncomfortable uploading it to the internet or honestly anywhere, given that it contains a lot of non-anonymous information, like my username, the applications I used, and some small extracts of virtual disk images..

Thank you

gc

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

If you don't want to attach it here, that's fine, I understand.  If it's not obvious, the reason I(we) ask for the support bundle is it gives us a fairly clear and concise picture of what's what without having to ask you a bunch of questions or give you specific directions to collect the minimum amount of info for us to give you concise and accurate information based on the actual facts.  If you want to drop the .tgz file into a password protected zip archive file and then attach it and Private Message me the password I'll be more then glad to help.  Otherwise, sorry, I don't have the time right now to piece meal this.  I'm sure someone else will get to your issue and will probably have more patience to deal with the lack of information then I do.

Otherwise all I can say is you need to free up an adequate amount of space on the Host in order to resolve the snapshot issue.  If you're using monolithic disks vs split disks then you need a sizable amount (in theory the size of the vHDD + a bit extra) of free disk space otherwise the necessary operations will not complete successfully.  Split disks do not required as much free space (minimum 2+ GB) however don't try to convent under the present circumstances!   If any of the snapshots have become orphaned or the snapshot database is not accurate then in some cases one way of correcting the issue is to kill the snapshot database and then take a snapshot and then delete it.  Obviously with out the facts I cannot make any specific recommendations and have just presented what I have to illustrate why info is needed.

You might be able to find adequate information in the VMware KB to rectify your issue, have you searched there?

[graphingcalcula]

"orphaned" was the word I was looking for. Most of the time, just getting the right keywords helps.

I found a comment that when a new snapshot is created and deleted, all orphaned snapshots are cleaned up as well. That consolidated everything into one disk (split).

Since my disk was split all along and the snapshots (orphaned and otherwise) were gone, I was able to boot the VM and shrink the disk using the VMware Tools.

As a hint to others, after creating+deleting a snapshot, I got down from 124GB to 102GB, afterward I still had to shrink the disk to get to 49GB, which is now adequately close to the size of the occupied space inside my VM (44GB).

Thanks!