this file is required to power on this virtual machine (external disk gone)

[mlevin77]

I have an OS X 10.13 VM (on OS X 10.14, VMWare Fusion Professional Version 11.5.7 (17130923)) which used to include a mounted disk from another VM (not its boot disk).  That VM is now gone, but my primary VM won't boot because it's looking for that drive. It doesn't need it - it's not the boot OS disk, just an external disk without which it should still work fine. In fact I ejected it before I suspended the VM, so I'm not sure why it still thinks it needs it. Now that I try to bring it out of suspended state, it says "This file is required to power on this virtual machine. If this file was moved, specify the new location." - how do I tell it that it doesn't need it, or else fake its presence somehow to let it boot?

[scott28tt]

@mlevin77 

Moderator: Please be specific in which VMware product and version you are using.

[a_p_]

One option - which however may cause data loss with a suspended VM - is to force power off the VM (see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1006215).

André

[mlevin77]

😞  I did that once and the VM became completely unbootable. Although I have snapshots of this one, I'm still worried about losing it. Maybe I can back it up somehow... Can I tell it somehow that it doesn't need it?  Or, create a brand new, empty disk and point it to that file (and name it the disk it wants)? It's not the boot disk for that VM, just an accessory disk I mounted once.

[a_p_]

>>> Or, create a brand new, empty disk and point it to that file  ...

That may be an option. I never was in this situation myself, but that's indeed something you may try.

André

[scott28tt]

@mlevin77 

Moderator: Moved to Fusion Discussions, the {code} area is for SDK matters.

[mlevin77]

I tried it but that didn't fool it... It still complained.   This is crazy, I can't believe my whole VM is rendered useless by the unavailability of a disk it doesn't actually need 😞

[wila]

Hi,

How about you attach a vmware.log and the .vmx for that problem VM?

There are ways to edit the .vmx so that the VM boots without loading the suspend file and without the disk that doesn't exist anymore.
If you're afraid of that rendering the VM corrupt then ... backup before you make any changes.

PS: You'll have to zip/compress the files before you can attach them here.

--
Wil

[mlevin77]

> How about you attach a vmware.log and the .vmx for that problem VM?

  Here's the log file; I can't find the .vmx - where should that be?

> There are ways to edit the .vmx so that the VM boots without loading the suspend file and without the disk that doesn't exist anymore.
If you're afraid of that rendering the VM corrupt then ... backup before you make any changes.

    Great! Let's edit it. How do I backup the VM - can I simply copy it, or I need to use the "duplicate" function?

[continuum]

> Here's the log file;  I can't find the .vmx - where should that be?

??? - thats almost like saying: I stand right in front of the Eiffel-tower - now where the f*** is Paris ?
Makes no sense to me as you obviously started the vmx-file one day ago:

2021-01-26T14:25:33.824-05:00| vmx| I005: Command line: "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx" "-E" "en" "-s" "vmx.stdio.keep=TRUE" "-#" "product=64;name=VMware Fusion;version=11.5.7;buildnumber=17130923;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=11.0+;" "-@" "duplex=3;msgs=ui" "-D" "4" "/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmx"


The vmx-file is here :
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmx
The working directory is :
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/.
your vmx-file references:
sata0:0.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl2-000002.vmdk"
sata0:2.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl1-000002.vmdk"
sata0:3.fileName = "Virtual Disk-000002.vmdk"
For all those 3 vmdks a chain of snapshots has to be loaded - which fails for these vmdks: - note that some items are listed more than once ...

/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk" : failed to open (The system cannot find the file specified).
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk": The system cannot find the file specified.
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Virtual Disk-cl1-000002.vmdk' with flags 0xa The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Virtual Disk-cl1-000001.vmdk' with flags 0xe The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened (23).
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Virtual Disk-cl1-000002.vmdk": Failed to open parent "
/Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Virtual Disk-cl1-000001.vmdk": Failed to open parent "
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk": The system cannot find the file specified.
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk" : failed to open (The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened).
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk" : failed to open (The system cannot find the file specified).
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk' with flags 0x21: Could not find the file (60002)
/Volumes/Untitled1/Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk' with flags 0xe The system cannot find the file specified (25).

The VM tries to load the suspended state:
Resuming virtual machine from /Volumes/Untitled1/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM.vmwarevm/Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM-49330c93.vmss

Next step: read all the vmdk descriptorfiles and follow each chain of parentFileNameHints.
Once you know that - you can either discard the vmss - just change
checkpoint.vmState = "Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM-49330c93.vmss"
to
# checkpoint.vmState = "Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM-49330c93.vmss"
or modify one of this lines:

sata0:0.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl2-000002.vmdk"
sata0:2.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl1-000002.vmdk"
sata0:3.fileName = "Virtual Disk-000002.vmdk"

Ulli

[mlevin77]

> Makes no sense to me as you obviously started the vmx-file one day ago:

   well I've never interacted with it directly, I always just start the VM from the VMWare software, but I see it now that I'm looking inside the Package.

>checkpoint.vmState = "Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM-49330c93.vmss"
>to
># checkpoint.vmState = "Cloner - macOS 10.13 VM-49330c93.vmss"

  ok I did that and when trying to boot it, it says

File not found: Virtual Disk-cl1.vmdk

> or modify one of this lines:
>sata0:0.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl2-000002.vmdk"
>sata0:2.fileName = "Virtual Disk-cl1-000002.vmdk"
>sata0:3.fileName = "Virtual Disk-000002.vmdk"

     how do I modify it - can I just get rid of the lines referring to sata0:2 ?

>Do you need support with a recovery problem ? - call me via skype "sanbarrow"

thank you!! I will.

[mlevin77]

so now I have the .vmx file edited as attached, but I'm still getting the same error.  What am I doing wrong?  Also weird, I wanted to post the latest vmware.log to see what the issue is now, and it hasn't created one - the last file is from Jan 26, how come it doesn't make a new one when I run and try to restart the VM?