How to mount a .vmdk VMWare virtual harddisk outside of the virtual machine

Question

I've got the virtual harddisk (VMWare .vmdk file) of an old (crashed) virtual machine. How can I open this to extract files without booting from it or attaching it to a virtual machine?

I know Windows 7 can mount .vhd files as additional harddisks, is there a way or tool to do this with an vmdk file?

Solution

Download the following: VMware Disk Mount Utility << The rest is all self-explanatory.

If you need more help: Click Here To Read Stepwise Instructions

Comments

[Hinek]

Thanks for your answer, I'll mark it as the right answer, but I can't install the disk mount utility, because it fails with error 1603 and the kb entry for this error doesn't help ... kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/…

[snow_FFFFFF]

Hi, Hinek, the Microsoft KB link is better: support.microsoft.com/kb/834484

[snow_FFFFFF]

@deed02392 Updated the links, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[Alexander Johansen]

@adeelx And the link is once again dead. Here is the updated one: my.vmware.com/web/vmware/…