virtualbox.org

Greetings.

I regularly backup the my Windows 10 VM image, Win10.vdi, but not the "Windows 10 VM.vbox" and "Windows 10 VM.vbox-prev".

Upon putting the VM in saved state and reboot the Ubuntu host, the VM wouldn't start. after repeated attempt to fix it failed. I tried to restore it with a backup Win10.vdi. But it wouldn't start either. Now I realized I should have backed up all three files instead of just one.

Since the Win10.vdi actually contains the disk image of the VM, I wonder if there is a way to get the VM start.

thanks for any insight.

BenZ wrote:Upon putting the VM in saved state

... which creates additional files in the "Snapshots" sub-directory...

BenZ wrote:after repeated attempt to fix it failed

Because you weren't restoring the whole thing.

BenZ wrote:Now I realized I should have backed up all three files instead of just one.

No, you would have failed again. Because you need the whole VM directory. The rest of the files aren't there for fun, they *do* serve a purpose...

See the FAQ "Moving a VM" and interpret it as "Backing up a VM" or "Copying a VM". For a complete VirtualBox backup, you should also back up the "VirtualBox.xml" file. The location of that file depends on the host, see ch. 10.1. Where VirtualBox stores its files of the User Manual.

BenZ wrote:Since the Win10.vdi actually contains the disk image of the VM

The *base* image, not the differentials images that are created when you 1) take a snapshot and/or 2) save the VM state, and which reside in the "Snapshots" sub-directory.

BenZ wrote:I wonder if there is a way to get the VM start.

There should be a "Discard" button in the toolbar. If not, I would like to see the "recipe" of the VM, the ".vbox" file:

1. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager. Select "Show in Finder/Explorer/Whatever".
2. ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it to your response.

And the contents of the directory of the VM, plus its subdirectories, complete with dates and sizes.