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        Mounting a .vmdk disk in windows

Section(s): General
Published on Nov 26, 2008.
Last Modified on Nov 26, 2008.
Last Modified by Vincent Vlieghe.
Rated 5 out of 5 based on 1 votes.

This article describes how to mount a .vmdk file in windows as a disk

A typical scenario with ESX is a guest running in isolated mode for tests using an internal only switch. However, ESX has not the same drag-and-drop functionality as VMware workstation does: once you install the VMware tools in a guest OS, you can drag-and-drop any files from the windows desktop to your local desktop or use shares to copy/paste information or files from within your guest.

You can still get your files by mounting or creating a floppy drive in the ESX guest. However, disk space on a floppy is limited. So for larger files one could use the following trick:

Install diskmount on your management station and Vmount 1.1 for VMware as its GUI (download it here).
Using VMware Converter or WinSCP tool, copy the .vmdk file to your local disk or network location
Now, click the vmount icon on your desktop. The same icon will appear in your icons taskbar. Right-click and select settings. There, navigate to the full path of your vmware-mount utility and specify the default driveletter to mount (Z: for example)
Once this is done, right-click again and select mount. You will be able to navigate to your .vmdk file and after clicking OK the drive will be mounted as Z:

About Vincent Vlieghe

Vincent Vlieghe is a Technology Consultant for a company called Xylos. He has a number of certifications including MCSE, CCA, HP AIS, VCP and Softgrid CP. His main focus is on virtualization, Server Based Computing, Operating Systems and hardware/storage. In addition to his consultancy job, Vincent is also a trainer. You can find his blog at http://virtrix.blogspot.com/.