How to Recover a VMware VM from a Flat VMDK File In a VMware environment, a virtual disk is typically composed of two distinct files: the ( .vmdk ), which contains metadata and configuration, and the flat file ( -flat.vmdk ), which holds the actual raw data. If the small descriptor file is deleted or corrupted, the virtual machine (VM) will fail to boot and may even disappear from the inventory. However, as long as the large -flat.vmdk remains intact, you can fully recover the VM by recreating its missing descriptor. 1. Recreating the Descriptor File via Command Line (ESXi)
Replace <size_in_GB> with the flat file's size (e.g., 40G ). recover vm from flat vmdk
To recover a VM from a flat VMDK file, you will need: How to Recover a VMware VM from a
If the descriptor file is lost or corrupted, you cannot directly attach or boot the VM — but the data in the -flat.vmdk is still intact. This guide explains how to recover the VM using only the flat VMDK. This guide explains how to recover the VM
Enable on your ESXi host through the vSphere Client or DCUI.