Renaming a virtual machine disk (VMDK) via the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) or vSphere CLI (vCLI)

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This articles provides steps for renaming an ESX/ESXi virtual disk using the vSphere Command Line Interface (vCLI) or the console interface on an ESX/ESXi host.

Note: The vCLI is available pre-installed within the vSphere Management Assistant. For more information, see the vSphere Management Assistant Documentation. and vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation.

For more information on renaming a virtual machine and its files, see Renaming a virtual machine and its files in VMware ESXi and ESX (1029513).

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable

Resolution

A virtual disk above consists of two files:

Virtual disk descriptor. In the following example: examplevm.vmdk
Virtual disk extent. In the following example: examplevm-flat.vmdk

A virtual machine's files can be listed and manipulated using the vSphere Command-Line Interface or the console interface on an ESX/ESXi host. For example, the descriptor and extent files can be seen using the vCLI vifs command:

Prerequisites

Prior to renaming a virtual disk, you must meet these prerequisites:

The virtual disk must not be in use. Power down the virtual machine(s) utilizing the virtual disk.
The virtual disk must not currently be snapshotted. Remove the snapshots before proceeding. For more information, see Determining if a virtual machine is using snapshots (1004343).

Note: Always ensure you have a backup of all virtual machines. For additional information, see Backing up ESX Server virtual machines with ESX 2.x (1355).

Renaming a virtual disk using the vSphere Command-Line Interface

For documentation on using the vCLI or vMA, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface or vSphere Management Assistant documentation.

To rename the disk and its files using the vmkfstools command in the vMA or vCLI:

Verify the virtual machine referring to the virtual machine disk is powered off and does not have outstanding snapshots.
Remove the virtual disk from the virtual machine's configuration:
1. Locate the virtual machine in the inventory using the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the virtual machine select Edit Settings.
3. Select the virtual disk in question and take note of virtual device node (eg, SCSI 0:1) and the name of the datastore and directory in the Disk File field at the top-right.
4. Click the Remove button to disconnect the virtual disk from the virtual machine.
Open a console session to the location the vCLI is installed. If using the vCLI from within the VMware Management Appliance, log in to the vMA.
Obtain a listing of the files within a directory using the vCLI command:

vifs.pl --server -D "[Datastore Name] VM_Directory Name"
Rename a virtual disk using a command similar to:

vmkfstools.pl --server -E "[Datastore Name] VM_Directory Name/examplevm.vmdk" "[Datastore Name] Directory Name/examplevm-renamed.vmdk"

Note: Specify the descriptor file; the associated extent file is renamed in the process.
Validate the files were renamed by listing the files within the directory using a command similar to:

vifs.pl --server -D "[Datastore Name] Directory Name"
Re-add the virtual machine disk to the virtual machine's configuration.
1. Using the vSphere Client, select the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
2. Click the Add... button above the virtual hardware list.
3. Select Hard Disk and Use an existing virtual disk.
4. Select the datastore and disk that was renamed.
5. Confirm that the same SCSI controller type and Device Node noted in step 2c.
6. Click the OK button to complete the configuration change.

Renaming a virtual disk using the ESX/ESXi host console interface

To rename the disk and its files using the vmkfstools command in ESX/ESXi host's console interface:

Verify the virtual machine referring to the virtual machine disk is powered off and does not have outstanding snapshots.
Remove the virtual disk from the virtual machine's configuration:
1. Locate the virtual machine in the inventory using the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the virtual machine select Edit Settings.
3. Select the virtual disk in question and take note of virtual device node (eg, SCSI 0:1) and the name of the datastore and directory in the Disk File field at the top-right.
4. Click the Remove button to disconnect the virtual disk from the virtual machine.
Open a console to the ESX or ESXi host. For more information, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807) or Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 (1017910).
Navigate to the virtual machine's directory using a command similar to:

cd "/vmfs/volumes/Datastore Name/Directory Name/"
Obtain a listing of the files within a directory using the command:

ls -l

For example:

total 320 -rw------- 1 root root 8684 Aug 30 10:53 examplevm.nvram -rw------- 1 root root 21474836480 Aug 30 10:26 examplevm-flat.vmdk -rw------- 1 root root 482 Aug 30 11:26 examplevm.vmdk -rw------- 1 root root 0 Aug 30 10:33 examplevm.vmsd -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2724 Aug 30 12:20 examplevm.vmx -rw------- 1 root root 264 Aug 30 12:20 examplevm.vmxf -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39168 Aug 30 10:53 vmware.log
Rename a virtual disk using a command similar to:

vmkfstools -E OldName.vmdk NewName.vmdk

For example:

vmkfstools -E examplevm.vmdk examplevm-renamed.vmdk

Note: Specify the descriptor file; the associated extent file is renamed in the process.
Validate the files were renamed by listing the files within the directory using the command:

ls -l

For example:

total 320 -rw------- 1 root root 8684 Aug 30 10:53 examplevm.nvram -rw------- 1 root root 21474836480 Aug 30 10:26 examplevm-renamed-flat.vmdk -rw------- 1 root root 482 Aug 30 11:26 examplevm-renamed.vmdk -rw------- 1 root root 0 Aug 30 10:33 examplevm.vmsd -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2724 Aug 30 12:20 examplevm.vmx -rw------- 1 root root 264 Aug 30 12:20 examplevm.vmxf -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39168 Aug 30 10:53 vmware.log
Re-add the virtual machine disk to the virtual machine's configuration.
1. Using the vSphere Client, select the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
2. Click the Add... button above the virtual hardware list.
3. Select Hard Disk and use an existing virtual disk.
4. Select the datastore and disk that was renamed.
5. Confirm that the same SCSI controller type and Device Node noted in step 2c.
6. Click OK to complete the configuration change.

Additional Information:

For translated versions of this article, see: