Snapshots. What a mess.

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
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BrianG61UK
Posts: 56
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Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by BrianG61UK »

Why are snapshot still a totally unintuitive, unusable mess that atempted use of them always results in complete confusion and loss of data?

I just want to take a snapshot to test something and then later on discard any changes made sine I took the snapshot.

Should be trivially easy, you'd think, but no. Even when someone tries to talk me through it, I have to say, no that isn't on that right click menu, or I don't seem to be able to do that on the one I want and I always end up discarding the snapshot rather than the recent changes.
JustinH
Posts: 130
Joined: 6. Aug 2015, 05:09

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by JustinH »

"Works for me." I take a snapshot, do my work, then restore the snapshot. Easy-peasy.
BrianG61UK
Posts: 56
Joined: 21. Mar 2014, 02:15
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
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Location: Reading. Berkshire. UK.
Contact:

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by BrianG61UK »

How? Please teach me.
JustinH
Posts: 130
Joined: 6. Aug 2015, 05:09

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by JustinH »

You know how to create a snapshot. Run your VM, do whatever, shut it down. Select the snapshot, click the Restore button (or right-mouse > Restore). Now you are back to a clean VM again.
TDusan
Posts: 4
Joined: 6. Jan 2025, 14:07

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by TDusan »

Why not copy paste into another folder instead then?
And if the original goes wrong, just copy the VM back.
jorgensen
Posts: 600
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by jorgensen »

Agree :?

<Take>
To save the current guest state, take a snapshot of the ‘Current State’ and give it a descriptive name.

<Restore>
To use an another snapshot, place the selection bar at the wanted snapshot and select Restore.
If the ‘Current State’ is marked as (changed), a dialog box with a check box will be shown.
If it is checked, the current guest state will be saved to a new snapshot, and if not, the current guest state will be discarded.

<Delete>
The Delete function is used to ‘delete’ a snapshot and is a rather complex. Be aware, that deleting a snapshot can be done without any warning and basically no way to get it back!
In the Snapshots view, the active snapshot is highlighted together with a ‘Current State’.
If there are snapshots between these two highlights, they must be deleted before the active snapshot can be deleted.
When the active snapshot then is ‘deleted’ it is merged into the ‘Current State’ snapshot.
If the snapshot for deleting is not part of the active snapshot chain, it can be deleted from bottom/up, as only the two last snapshots can be deleted each time.
To remove all snapshots without changing the original guest state, restore to the very top snapshot and then start deleting all other snapshots. When all these snapshots have been deleted, restore the top snapshot again as a safety and then delete it.
saberman
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Joined: 21. Dec 2009, 00:32
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Guest OSses: Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by saberman »

I am a little bit confused. I have a VM in state B with two snapshots: snap1 and snap2. I want to temporally go back to the state with just snap1. Then be able to get the system back to its current state.

<Take>
To save the current guest state, take a snapshot of the ‘Current State’ and give it a descriptive name.

This would be snap2?

<Restore>
To use another snapshot, place the selection bar at the wanted snapshot and select Restore.
If the ‘Current State’ is marked as (changed), a dialog box with a check box will be shown.
If it is checked, the current guest state will be saved to a new snapshot, and if not, the current guest state will be discarded.

Since snap2 is the ‘Current State’ and I have used it for a while it will be marked as changed. Where will the new snapshot with the current state be saved? Will it now be removed from the snapshot chain in VirtualBox? I assume (watch that word), that the machine down has only one snapshot – the one I restored to? Will there now be a new snapshot so I have snap1 and snap2New?

Let us assume I use the system for a while how do I get back to the way it was before I hit the restore button (state B)? I assume (again that word) that I have to first restore to snap1. How do I get VirtualBox to also use snap2?
JustinH
Posts: 130
Joined: 6. Aug 2015, 05:09

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by JustinH »

If you want to later go back to the current state, you have to take a snapshot first. Any state that is not saved (snapshot) will be lost if you switch to any other snapshot.
saberman
Posts: 299
Joined: 21. Dec 2009, 00:32
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by saberman »

There is a snapshot of the current state: snap2
It is my understanding that the current state depends on snap1 and snap2.

If I switch back to snap1 it will be changed as I use the VM. Also, VirtualBox will not have snap2 on the list. If I somehow get snap2 back on the list there will still be changes in snap1 as I use it.

It appears to me that before I do the restore, I have to backup both snap1 and snap2 -- call the backups snap1old and snap2ole. Then do the restore. Now the only snapshot will be snap1. When I want to go back, I have to replace snap1 with snap11old and snap2old,
How do I do that?
JustinH
Posts: 130
Joined: 6. Aug 2015, 05:09

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by JustinH »

Right, you have to save/snap whatever you want to return to if you want it like it was when last used. To go back to another snapshot, you Restore it.
saberman
Posts: 299
Joined: 21. Dec 2009, 00:32
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by saberman »

>you restore it
How do I do that? Let's say I am ready to go from snap1new to snap1old and snap2old. I can replace snap1new with the two old snapshots. How do I get VirtualBox to be looking for the two old ones instead of the one newer one?
jorgensen
Posts: 600
Joined: 20. Oct 2009, 01:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by jorgensen »

saberman wrote: 16. Jan 2025, 04:29 When I want to go back, I have to replace snap1 with snap11old and snap2old,
You cannot do that unless you are an expert!

If e.g. the 'Current State' for snap1 is marked as (changed) and you later want to return to this specific state, you have to take a new snapshot e.g. snap1b of the 'Current State' where snap1b will take the position of the 'Current State' which then will move to this new snapshot position.

Be aware you can have a very complex snapshot subsystem with 'parallel' snapshots where you move around trying various settings.
E.g. you can make as many 'parallel' chains from the top snapshot as you want!
snapshots.png
snapshots.png (23.79 KiB) Viewed 1374 times
JustinH
Posts: 130
Joined: 6. Aug 2015, 05:09

Re: Snapshots. What a mess.

Post by JustinH »

To restore a snapshot, RMB on it > Restore or use the big Restore button above the snapshot list.
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