Lost <name>.vbox - How to import Snapshots

[jochen69]

Hi,

i am using VB 4.3.3 under WIN 7.

After system crash i lost my <name>.vbox. It´s saved now binary stuff biginning with PØuz£'­½V}<\©Õ™²d©'

So, it´s no problem to create a new VM to connect with basis vdi files of old vm. My OS is starting, but the old original one. In my old VM are a lot of Snapshot .vdi files.

Is there a way to import, merge, ... to my new VM?

Sorry, i´am not so with the internas of VM, so please descripe possible ways in a simple way.

Thank you,
Jochen

[Perryg]

See if there is a *.vbox-prev or *.vbox-tmp

If so the first thing to try is to replace the corrupt one with the prev or the tmp and see if it works.

Snapshots are not easily recovered so do not do anything else until you try the suggestion first.

[jochen69]

Unfortunately it´s also damaged. There is no file *.vbox-tmp and my vm is on another harddisk and i forgot to make a backup from vbox files

I can reinstall my software in VM, but it will take a while. Better is if there is another way. My VDI-files are there. Is it really so difficult to tell VB use this main vdi with that snapshot vdi´s?

[mpack]

There is no practical way to make a new VM use those snapshot VDIs. Even an expert would have difficulty reconstructing the control information by hand, and some of it would be plain impossible, e.g. if there were VM settings changes between snapshots.

At this point your only solution is to merge the snapshot chain into a single clone VDI, and create a new VM around the clone.

1. First, download the CloneVDI tool from the "Windows Hosts" forum.
2. Copy all the VDI files (all snapshots plus the base VDI) into a single folder.
3. Use CloneVDI to open the the newest snapshot you can identify. If CloneVDI says "Validation: OK" then you can go ahead and clone it. Otherwise you'll need to select a different file.
4. If CloneVDI successfully clones the snapshot then the result is a merged (stand alone) VDI which can be renamed and used as the basis of a new VM. It is important that you don't try to include this VDI in the old VM that expects a snapshot chain.
5. Once the new VM is tested and working, you can delete all remnants of the old VM.
6. Windows guests will notice a hardware change and want to be activated. This is probably not avoidable given that you lost the old hardware definition.
7. I suggest that you avoid snapshots in future.

[jochen69]

Ok, that worked till start vm. The message is 'FATAL: INT18: BOOT FAILURE'. It is a WIN 7 guest.

[mpack]

Try moving the hard disk onto an IDE controller. Otherwise all you can do is boot from the Win7 setup DVD and try a repair. Note that you are now straying into the realm of Windows support.

[jochen69]

It´s not working. Windows cannot repair.

So, i´ll using primary vdi and start to backup vbox and avoid snapshots.

Thank you all!