Whenever we download a virtual machine to install in VMware workstation, it consists of more than one file. But we only care about .vmdk file for the most part because our work is done with just that.Other files are there for a reason, but what do other files mean?
All the info about a VM (Virtual Machine) is not stored in a single file. Different info like about hard drive, VM’s configuration, BIOS state, etc are stored in separate files.
.vmdk
This stores the contents of the VM’s hard disk drive. In other words, it is file to which the guest operating system (OS) can write. Earlier VMware products used the extension .dsk for virtual disk files.
.vmx
This is the primary configuration file. It stores settings set by user in the virtual machine settings (hypervisor) editor. Earlier this file had .cfg extension.
.vmxf
This is a config file for VMs that are in a team. Note that the .vmxf file remains if a virtual machine is removed from the team. In short, it is a supplemental config file.
.nvram
This is the file that stores the state of the VM’s BIOS. Read more, about what is BIOS, here.
.vmsd
This stores info and metadata about snapshots. Snapshots are used to store a VM’s state at that particular time. Read more, about snapshots, here.
.log
As obvious the name tells, this is the file that keeps a log of key VM’s activity. This file can be useful in troubleshooting if problems are encountered.
.vmsd
This is a database file that contains VM’s snapshot info and metadata about relation between snapshots and disks for each snapshot.
.vmsn
This is the snapshot state file, which stores the running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot. This is an optional file.
.vmss
This is the suspended state file, which stores the state of a suspended virtual machine.
Hope you learnt something new. Reach out to me at https://harjasnagi.ml :)
