Remove Snapshots

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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aescott
Posts: 34
Joined: 25. Aug 2008, 16:02

Remove Snapshots

Post by aescott »

I have just reinstalled my openSuse system and VirtualBox 3.0.4, and I've got my virtual XP machine working again. However, there are a lot of snapshots / virtual hard discs that I no longer want - they take up space and I'd like to release it. However, I've made some changes to my XP installation, which I need to keep. How do I get rid of my extra snapshots / hard discs whilst retaining the system at its current configuration?

Do I take a new snapshot and then get rid of all the other ones? Do I need to use the console window to delete the old hard disks?

I've spent quite a bit of time getting everything working nicely again after some serious issues over the weekend (not VB-related!), so I hope that what I want is acahievable without much pain...
Sasquatch
Volunteer
Posts: 17798
Joined: 17. Mar 2008, 13:41
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux
Location: /dev/random

Re: Remove Snapshots

Post by Sasquatch »

It can be done. Open VB and select the VM. Now on the right side, select the second tab called Snapshots. There you can 'revert' the snapshots, merging the data with the parent snapshot. Do this for each entry and it should eventually clean up the list of snapshots until you're left with only one state. You might need to discard a snapshot after reverting one.
As with all possible dangerous operations, creating a backup is essential, especially in this case as something could happen that cause you to loose the VM changes you want to keep.
Read the Forum Posting Guide before opening a topic.
VirtualBox FAQ: Check this before asking questions.
Online User Manual: A must read if you want to know what we're talking about.
Howto: Install Linux Guest Additions
Howto: Use Shared Folders on Linux Guest
See the Tutorials and FAQ section at the top of the Forum for more guides.
Try searching the forums first with Google and add the site filter for this forum.
E.g. install guest additions site:forums.virtualbox.org

Retired from this Forum since OSSO introduction.
dmcgraw
Volunteer
Posts: 808
Joined: 24. Jun 2008, 17:16
Primary OS: Ubuntu 8.10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: XP, Ubuntu 9.10
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA

Re: Remove Snapshots

Post by dmcgraw »

Discarding/merging/reverting snapshots is the most confusing part of the VB GUI for me. 2 days ago, even after using VB for almost 1.5 years, I screwed up and discarded changes I had made to a VM that I wanted to keep. I was only trying to merge them in with the previous snapshot.

I hope someday soon the wording on this will be made clearer.
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