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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 325
Appendix B Files That Make Up a Virtual Machine
.vmem <vm_name>.vmem Thevirtualmemorypagingfilebacksuptheguest
mainmemoryonthehostfilesystem.(Thevirtual
machineusesthephysicalmemoryonthehost.)The
pagingfileispresentwhileavirtualmachineis
running,andisdeletedwhenavirtualmachineis
poweredoffnormally.
<vm_name>-Snapshot<#>.vmem The
snapshotmemoryfilestoresthestateofthe
virtualmachine’smemoryforasnapshottakenwhen
avirtualmachineispoweredon.
.vmsd <vm_name>.vmsd Storesmetadataandinformationaboutsnapshots.
.vmsn <vm_name>-Snapshot<#>.vmsn Storesthestateofavirtualmachineatthetimeyou
takethesnapshot.
.vmss <vm_name>.vmss Storesthestateofasuspendedvirtualmachine.
.vmx <vm_name>.vmx The
primaryvirtualmachineconfigurationfile
storessettingschosenintheNewVirtualMachine
wizardandtheConfi g ureVMdialogbox.
Donoteditthevirtualmachineconfigurationfile
directly.Instead,usetheAdvancedtabofthe
ConfigureVMdialogbox.See“ChangingVirtual
MachineAdvancedSettings”onpage 127.
.vmxf <vm_name>.vmxf Supplementaryvirtualmachine
configurationfile.
.lck <paging_file>.vmem.lck
<redo_file>.vmdk.lck
<disk_file>.vmdk.lck
Lockfilespreventdataconsistencyproblemson
virtualdisks.Lockfilesarepresentwhileavirtual
machineisrunning,andaredeletedwhenavirtual
machineispoweredoffnormally.
Ifthehostsystemcrasheswhileavirtualmachineis
running,astalelockoftenremains.Whenthe
virtual
machineisstartedagain,itattemptstoremovethe
stalelock.Toverifythatthelockfileisstale,
VMware Serverconfirmsthat:
Thelockwascreatedonthesamehostwherethe
virtualmachineisrunning.
Theprocessthatcreatedthelockisnotrunning.
Ifeitherofthoseconditionsisnottrue,awarning
messageappears,indicatingthatthevirtualmachine
cannotbepoweredon.Ifyouaresureitissafetodo
so,youcandeletethelockfilesmanually.
Table B-1. Virtual Machine Files (Continued)
Extension File Name Description