Recover Virtual Machine From Flat Vmdk May 2026

Critical: The extent size must match the flat file size in sectors. Compute:

# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 CID=12345678 parentCID=ffffffff createType="vmfs" RW 83886080 VMFS "recovered-flat.vmdk" The Disk Data Base ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "5221" ddb.geometry.heads = "255" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.longContentID = "abcdef1234567890" ddb.thinProvisioned = "1" ddb.virtualHWVersion = "13" recover virtual machine from flat vmdk

The descriptor points to the flat file. Without it, VMware has no way to interpret the raw data. Check the file size. A flat VMDK should be exactly the provisioned size of the disk (e.g., 40 GB). Use the datastore browser or command line: Critical: The extent size must match the flat

ls -lh /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/YourVM/ Look for *-flat.vmdk . If it exists but the small .vmdk is missing or zero bytes, recovery is possible. You have three reliable methods. Method A: Use vmkfstools (ESXi command line) This is the safest and fastest method. Check the file size

Introduction If you have ever browsed a VMware datastore, you have likely seen two files for a single virtual disk: a small .vmdk (descriptor file) and a large -flat.vmdk (raw data file). When the descriptor file is missing, corrupted, or accidentally deleted, the VM cannot be powered on or registered—even though your actual data is safe inside the -flat.vmdk .

This guide explains exactly how to recover a fully functional virtual machine from a flat VMDK file. | File | Purpose | |------|---------| | vmname.vmdk | Small text descriptor (disk geometry, CID, parent link, etc.) | | vmname-flat.vmdk | Raw binary data (all VM contents: OS, files, partitions) |