vmware "parent of this virtual disk could not be opened"

Keywords:
vmware "parent of this virtual disk could not be opened" moved windows linux

Problem:
Moved a Virtual Machine setup (Windows 2003 Server RC2) that was created on a machine running Windows (2003 server) to a Linux machine (RedHat Enterprise 4) and get the following error when you try to view the the disk properties or start the Virtual Machine:

... "parent of this virtual disk could not be opened" ...

Solution:
If you've taken a snapshot for this VM in the past there will be a text file with a name like: "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001.vmdk". Stupidly, this contains a full path reference to the location of the "parent file" (which by default will be in the same folder). This has to be changed if you move the VM to another host machine.

Below is what this file looked like ... simply remove the full path reference, save the file and try again.

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=e615c3de
parentCID=67e1d188
createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"
parentFileNameHint="c:\virtual machines\test-server\Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk"
# Extent description
RW 4192256 SPARSE "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001-s001.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001-s002.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001-s003.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001-s004.vmdk"
RW 8192 SPARSE "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-000001-s005.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB