[TriLUG] vmware switch user - linux host

Ron Joffe rjoffe at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 20 14:57:35 EST 2006


Just a quick breakdown of the files in your vm's directory:

*.vmdk      - Virtual Machine Disk Files
*.vmx       - Virtual Machine Descriptor File
*.vmem      - Virtual Machine Memory Files
*.vmsd      - Virtual Machine Snapshot Disks
*.vmss      - Virtual Machine Checkpoint State Files
*.log       - Log Files 
*.WRITELOCK - Lock Files

These definitions are my own, not VMWare's so they might be a bit off, but 
they should suffice for this discussion.

You can safely delete any but the *.vmdk and *.vmx . 
This assumes the following:
  1. The VM is shut down
  2. The VM is not suspended
  3. The VM is not utilizing snapshots

I would not delete the vmx file since that file has all of the configuration 
of the vm machine. There might be some configuration items in the vmx that 
would point to ownership, but I did not see any such items in any of my VM's.

Ron


On Monday 20 November 2006 14:41, David McDowell wrote:
> heh, I think I'll mv the file... see what happens, then decide if
> delete is proper.  :)  I won't get to try it until after hours though,
> so maybe tonight.
>
> thanks,
> David
>
> On 11/20/06, OlsonE at aosa.army.mil <OlsonE at aosa.army.mil> wrote:
> > I think so. I had the same symptoms ...where I'd delete / un-register,
> > and that file not disappear. After deleting it (it gets re-created when
> > you re-attach / start a new session) ...it came back up fine. Just make
> > sure you don't delete the wrong file :). Vmware is very unforgiving.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
> > Behalf Of David McDowell
> > Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 2:26 PM
> > To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
> > Subject: Re: [TriLUG] vmware switch user - linux host
> >
> > No, I wasn't aware any files in the VM folder were able to be deleted
> > (meaning, not knowing whether or not something bad woud happen if I
> > did).
> >
> > Are these 2 lines in that file the ones that got in my way??
> > uuid.location = "blah blah blah"
> > uuid.bios = "same blah blah blah"
> >
> > So my process was basically OK except not knowing I could delete this
> > file before re-attaching?  The file is then recreated?  If so, why'd it
> > work the first time when I opened the VSC as user2 when user1 had not
> > yet been deleted, only to then fail after user1 was deleted and I tried
> > to connect to them again?
> >
> > thanks,
> > David
> >
> > On 11/20/06, OlsonE at aosa.army.mil <OlsonE at aosa.army.mil> wrote:
> > > Did you make sure you deleted your *.vmx file before re-registering /
> > > attaching to an existing console?
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
> > > Behalf Of David McDowell
> > > Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 1:26 PM
> > > To: TriLUG
> > > Subject: [TriLUG] vmware switch user - linux host
> > >
> > > Hi folks.  I seem to have run into a problem this weekend switching
> > > which user owned my VMs.  User1 was the previous owner.  I shut the
> > > VMs down, then I used the Vmware Server Console (VSC) to unregister
> > > them (so I thought).  I created user2, then chown'd the VMs to user2,
> > > went into the VSC as user2 and was able to open and start the VMs.
> > >
> > > However, then I went and deleted user1, closed the VSC and reopend and
> > >
> > > was no longer allowed to access those VMs.  I wonder if this has only
> > > some, none or all to do with the making the VM private option... if
> > > so, how to adjust for that so I can switch owners AND keep the VMs
> > > private under the new owner?
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > > David McD
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-- 
Ron Joffe
Siena Tech, Inc.
120 Old Bridge Lane
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
(919) 928-0404



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