Moving a linked VM with snapshots

[vmanvman]

I cannot yet post links, so to explain, I followed this advice:
Board index ‹ General ‹ Howtos and Tutorials ‹ Generic Advice ‹ Moving a VM (by mpack » 8. Apr 2013, 18:47)

I have VB v5.2.2, and I'm using a 64-bit Debian 9.x "stretch" host with a 32-bit Microsoft Windows XP SP3 guest as a linked clone with its own snapshots.
I'm running v5.1.30 guest additions as 3D is still problematic with native v5.2.2 guest additions.

Upon completion of the steps in the aforementioned link, I received the following error (UUIDs have been obfuscated):

Code: Select all

A differencing image of snapshot {UUID001} could not be found. Could not find an open hard disk with UUID {UUID002}.

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: SnapshotMachine
Interface: IMachine {UUID003}
Callee: IVirtualBox {UUID004}

I cannot locate UUID001 in the donor VM snapshot list nor any hard disk with UUID002. I don't know what I've done wrong nor how to fix this.

[socratis]

I don't know what I've done wrong

You have a linked clone with snapshots. That similar to asking for trouble. What you did wrong is to break the link in "linked". This is not an easy procedure, since the recipe of the VM references something that was in location A and it's there no more.

I could try and take a look at it (no promises), if you posted the ".vbox" files for both the original and the linked clone, as well as a complete listing of the old directory and its subdirectories (where the original VM is), and the new directory and its subdirectories (where you moved the linked clone).

And please do not obfuscate not even a single character, otherwise all bets are off.

[mpack]

If you have a linked clone (the snapshots don't help) then you need to unlink it by making a full clone of it. Then move the clone.

If you want to maintain the linkage then you need to move the base VM first, then the linked clone VMs (actually as I don't use the feature I'm not sure that the order is important). There is no requirement to maintain the folder structure, it's enough that all required VMs are registered.