Linking an Imported Virtual Machine to the Source Virtual Machine or System Image

When an imported virtual machine is linked to the virtual disk of the source virtual machine or image, Workstation must be able to access that linked source virtual disk to run the virtual machine.

When you import a virtual machine or system image, the Virtual Machine Importer wizard (or Converter Import wizard) provides an option to link the newly created virtual machine to the virtual disk of the source virtual machine or image. (This option, Link to the existing virtual machine, is available in the custom configuration but not in the typical configuration.) In most cases, it is preferable to create a complete copy of the original virtual machine or image rather than to create a link to it. The resulting virtual machine generally performs better, and you do not need to maintain access to the source virtual machine or image. If you do choose to link an imported virtual machine to the original virtual machine or image, you should be aware of the following considerations.

• You need to ensure ongoing access to the source virtual disk. If the source virtual disk is moved to a different network location, or if Workstation cannot access the virtual disk's network location for any other reason, Workstation is unable to power on the virtual machine.
  
  
• You might encounter a problem when you import a virtual machine to a shared network drive, then try to power on the imported virtual machine in Workstation when it's running on a different host machine on the shared network. This problem might be accompanied by the message:
  
  Cannot open the disk 'X:\\<path>\diskname.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: Failed to lock the file.
  
  In this mesage, X is the shared network drive name, as mapped on the host machine running Workstation, <path> is the path to the .vmdk file for the newly imported virtual machine, and diskname.vmdk is the name of the virtual disk (.vmdk) file for the newly imported virtual machine.
  
  The problem occurs because the drive containing the source virtual disk for the imported virtual machine is mapped to one drive letter in the host machine running Workstation and to a different drive letter in the virtual machine or host machine running Virtual Machine Importer. When you import a virtual machine or system image to a shared network drive, the newly created base virtual disk for the imported virtual machine contains the following entry:
  
  parentFileNameHint="Y:\\<path>\diskname.vhd"
  
  In this entry, Y is the shared network drive name, as mapped on the virtual machine or host running Virtual Machine Importer, <path> is the path to the .vhd file for the original source virtual machine or image, and diskname.vhd is the name of the .vhd file for the original source virtual machine.
  
  If the host machine running Workstation maps the shared network drive differently from the virtual machine or host that imported the virtual machine, Workstation is unable to open the virtual machine.
  
  To work around this problem, open the virtual disk (.vmdk) file and manually edit the line
  
  parentFileNameHint="Y:\\<path>\diskname.vhd"
  
  Change the drive letter (Y) so it matches the mapping of the host machine running Workstation. You should now be able to open the virtual machine in Workstation.
  
  
• Linking an imported virtual machine directly to a Symantec backup image is supported only for Windows versions of VMware Workstation. To use a Symantec backup system image with Linux versions of Workstation, the Virtual Machine Importer must make a copy of the image. When you import the image, select either the Typical configuration or the Custom configuration. If you select the Custom configuration, select the option Make a complete copy of the source virtual machine.
  
  
• If you create a virtual machine and attach two virtual disks that are both linked to the same Symantec backup system image, Workstation cannot power on the virtual machine. This limitation applies only to virtual disks linked to Symantec system images.