What are the files Extension available in VMware Virtualization?

What are the files Extension available in VMware Virtualization?

.log                             <vmname>.log or vmware.log

This is the file that keeps a log of key VMware Workstation activity. This file can be useful in troubleshooting if you encounter problems. This file is stored in the directory that holds the configuration (.vmx) file of the virtual machine.

.nvram                       <vmname>.nvram or nvram

This is the file that stores the state of the virtual machine's BIOS.

.vmdk                         <vmname>.vmdk

This is a virtual disk file, which stores the contents of the virtual machine's hard disk drive. A virtual disk is made up of one or more .vmdk files. If you have specified that the virtual disk should be split into 2GB chunks, the number of .vmdk files depends on the size of the virtual disk. As data is added to a virtual disk, the .vmdk files grow in size, to a maximum of 2GB each. (If you specify that all space should be allocated when you create the disk, these files start at the maximum size and do not grow.) Almost all of a .vmdk file's content is the virtual machine's data, with a small portion allotted to virtual machine overhead. If the virtual machine is connected directly to a physical disk, rather than to a virtual disk, the .vmdk file stores information about the partitions the virtual machine is allowed to access. Earlier VMware products used the extension .dsk for virtual disk files.

<diskname>-<###>.vmdk

This is a redo-log file, created automatically when a virtual machine has one or more snapshots. This file stores changes made to a virtual disk while the virtual machine is running. There may be more than one such file. The ### indicates a unique suffix added automatically by VMware Workstation to avoid duplicate file names.

.vmsd                         <vmname>.vmsd

This is a centralized file for storing information and metadata about snapshots.

.vmsn                         <vmname>-Snapshot.vmsn

This is the snapshot state file, which stores the running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot.

<vmname>-Snapshot<###>.vmsn

This is the file which stores the state of a snapshot

.vmss                                     <vmname>.vmss

This is the suspended state file, which stores the state of a suspended virtual machine. Some earlier VMware products used the extension .std for suspended state files

.vmtm                        <vmname>.vmtm

This is the configuration file containing team data.

.vmx                           <vmname>.vmx

This is the primary configuration file, which stores settings chosen in the New Virtual Machine Wizard or virtual machine settings editor. If you created the virtual machine under an earlier version of VMware Workstation on a Linux host, this file may have a .cfg extension.

.vmxf                          <vmname>.vmxf

This is a supplemental configuration file for virtual machines that are in a team. Note that the .vmxf file remains if a virtual machine is removed from the team.

.VMDK -- These files are the actual hard disk of the virtual machine itself, and tend to be the largest file within the folder. You can consider the size of this file to be roughly equivalent to the size of either the disk itself (if you've chosen to use preallocated disks) or the size of the data currently stored on that disk (if you use growable disks).

.NVRAM -- Consider this file the BIOS of the virtual machine.

.VMX -- With typically one VMX file per folder, this file holds the configuration information for the virtual machine in a text format. Unlike almost all the other files you'll see, these files can be edited using any text editing program, a process that is actually required for some functionality that is not exposed in the GUI.

.VMXF -- This file, in XML format, includes additional information about the virtual machine if it has been added to a team. If a machine has been added to a team and then later removed, this file remains resident. This file can also be opened and read in a text editor.

.VMTM -- For virtual machines actively participating in a team, this file stores information about that team membership.

.VMEM -- These files, which contain a backup of the VMs paging file, are typically very small or non-existent when the virtual machine is powered off, but grow immediately to the size of configured RAM when the machine is powered on.

.VMSN and .VMSD -- When snapshots are created for a virtual machine, these files are created to host the state of the virtual machine. The VMSN file stores the running state of the machine, what you could consider the "delta" between the VMDK at the point of the snapshot and what has been processed up until the present time. The VMSD stores information and metadata about the snapshot itself.

.VMSS -- If you've suspected the state of your machine, this file contains the suspended state of that machine. These files typically only appear when virtual machines have been suspended.