virtualbox.org

So my XML file was completely blank when I tried to boot my virtual box today. I found that by creating a new box and assigning it to the existing virtual hard drive that I'd be able to keep going.

Problem is I had snapshots that are no longer showing up. They appear under the Virtual Media Manager in a tree structure under the virtual hard drive, though. How do I modify the XML file to recognize these snapshots so I can use them again?

Thanks

You can only get the snapshots back if you can somehow recover the XML file that holds that configuration. That is because with snapshots, comes settings and when you revert to a snapshot, those settings are reverted too. If it's truly empty, there's not much you can do.

I found a post from a couple years back that said they were recoverable.

EDIT:
Well I just went and started fiddilng around with the XML file and was able to recover those images myself, so yes, they are indeed recoverable.

By using data recovery software, yes, but chances are slim. And like I stated, if the file itself is empty, it's even less. When there is data in it, you can salvage parts of it.

I didn't use any data recovery software, I simply pointed the XML file to the image I wanted to load and it came up with no problems.

EDIT:
and I'd still like to know how to modify the XML so that I have access to all my snapshots without having to edit the XML file each time I want to load a different one.

To know how to edit the XML properly, you first need a second machine with one or two snapshots, so you see how it should be. Then you can replicate the settings to include the snapshots.