Mount VMWare Disk Images Under Linux
Solution 1
You can also use qemu:
For .vdi
sudo modprobe nbd
sudo qemu-nbd -c /dev/nbd1 ./linux_box/VM/image.vdi
if they are not installe you can install them (on Ubuntu is this comand)
sudo apt install qemu-utils
and then mount it
mount /dev/nbd1p1 /mnt
For .vmdk
sudo modprobe nbd
sudo qemu-nbd -r -c /dev/nbd1 ./linux_box/VM/image.vmdk
notice tha I use the option -r
that's because VMDK version 3 must be read only to be able to be mounted by qemu
and then I mount it
mount /dev/nbd1p1 /mnt
I use nbd1
because nbd0
sometimes gives 'mount: special device /dev/nbd0p1 does not exist'
For .ova
tar -tf image.ova
tar -xvf image.ova
The above will extract the .vmdk
disk and then mount that.
My configuration:
Ubuntu: 16.04.3 LTS Kernel: 4.4.0-112-generic Package: qemu-utils version: 1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.22 Vmdk: 3 but should be any
Solution 2
Install affuse, then mount file with it:
affuse /path/file.vmdk /mnt/vmdk
Check sector size
fdisk -l /mnt/vmdk/file.vmdk.raw
# example
Disk file.vmdk.raw: 20 GiB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000da525
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/mnt/vmdk/file.vmdk.raw1 * 2048 41943039 41940992 20G 83 Linux
Multiply sectorsize and startsector. In example it would be 2048*512
echo 2048*512 | bc
1048576
Mount using that offset
mount -o ro,loop,offset=1048576 /mnt/vmdk/file.raw /mnt/vmdisk
Disk should now be mounted and readable on /mnt/vmdisk
Solution 3
In my machine the loop devices are in /dev
. This article mentions /dev/wrapper and /dev, so it could be of help to you.
On the other hand, this other article uses the vmware-mount
command to accomplish the same.
Note: My system is Slackware64-current (mostly), but with mainly gtk-based software.
Related videos on Youtube
xpt
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
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xpt over 1 year
Is it still possible to mount VMWare disk images under Linux?
I found the following two articles, both of them recommend to use
kpartx -av diskimage-flat.vmdk
. However both the articles are old and, when I try it on my Ubuntu Utopic 14.10, it no longer works any more.$ sudo kpartx -av MyWin81.vmdk $ sudo ls /dev/mapper/loop* | wc -l ls: cannot access /dev/mapper/loop*: No such file or directory 0
Disclosure: My VMWare disk image IS a flat disk image. Furthermore (before you recommend loop mount), it is a multi-partition disk image, with first partition being Window8 and next two in Linux. It is the next two Linux partitions that I'm more interested to work on.
Can someone confirm please? Thanks.
Mount Flat VMWare Disk Images Under Linux http://cromoteca.com/en/blog/mountflatvmwarediskimagesunderlinux/
Mount a VMware virtual disk (.vmdk) file on a Linux box http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/12554/mount-a-vmware-virtual-disk-.vmdk-file-on-a-linux-box
UPDATE:
vmware-mount
looks very promising, but I can't get it working yet:$ vmware-mount -p Win81.vmdk VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter. Failed to read configuration file. Nr Start Size Type Id Sytem -- ---------- ---------- ---- -- ------------------------ 1 2048 78643200 BIOS 7 HPFS/NTFS 2 78645248 6039552 BIOS 83 Linux 3 84684800 41144320 BIOS 83 Linux % vmware-mount Win81.vmdk 1 /mnt/tmp1/ VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter. Failed to read configuration file. Failed to mount partition 1 of disk 'Win81.vmdk' on '/mnt/tmp1/': Insufficient permissions to perform this operation % vmware-mount -L VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter. Failed to read configuration file. No mounted disks. $ vmware-mount | head -3 VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter. Failed to read configuration file. VMware DiskMount Utility version 6.0.0, build-2496824 Usage: vmware-mount diskPath [partition num] mountPoint
NB, the 2nd and 3rd command is run directly as
root
, yet I get "Insufficient permissions to perform this operation"?-
farosch about 9 yearsConfirmed. Or maybe try vboxmanage?
-
-
xpt about 9 yearsThanks. a) Please run
lsb_release -a
anduname -a
and post back your results, so that people would know what OS your machine is, which has the loop devices. b) The 1st article you mentioned is the one I've already included in my OP. c) Thanks for the 2nd article, I'll give it a try. -
jcoppens about 9 years
lsb_release
is not a command which is available by default with all distros. I read your results. I use Virtualbox here, so I have no vmdk files to test on, -
jcoppens about 9 yearsJust another idea: It seems Virtualbox recognizes
vmdk
images. So maybe the remark from sehams on your original question is not as farfetched as it seemed to me. If you install VB, you could possibly usevboxmanage
to convert, then justmount
it withloop
device. -
Antonio Petricca almost 7 yearsHow could I made it r/w?
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xpt over 6 yearsThanks Eduard. Please let people know what OS your machine is on, e.g., run
lsb_release -a
and/oruname -a
, and tell us the version ofqemu
andvmdisk
that you are using now, then post back the results. -
xpt over 6 yearsThanks MetalGodwin. Please let people know what OS your machine is on, e.g., run
lsb_release -a
and/oruname -a
, and tell us the version ofaffuse
andvmdisk
that you are using now, then post back the results. Thx. -
Stuart Cardall almost 6 yearsworks with
qemu-nbd 2.12.0
on Arch Linux - I had to skip using-r
for a file on a filesystem mountedro