Locating the virtual machine bundle in VMware Fusion

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to locate a virtual machine bundle in VMware Fusion.

Environment

VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion 3.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Fusion 1.x
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion 7.x

Resolution

 

Fusion creates a virtual machine as a bundle, which is a set of files grouped together as a package. Each virtual machine bundle contains the virtual machine's virtual disks (data) and settings files.

 

Note: Before you alter the virtual machine's files, VMware recommends copying the virtual machine's bundle to a safe location (either on an external hard drive or anywhere else on the Mac's hard drive) to backup the virtual machine. For more information, see Best practices for virtual machine backup (programs and data) (1013628).

 

By default, virtual machine bundles are stored in Macintosh HD/Users/User_name/Documents/Virtual Machines. Depending on your version of Fusion and your Mac OS Settings, this last folder name may be Virtual Machines.localized.

 

Note: Virtual machines running from Boot Camp partitions are stored in Macintosh HD/Users/User_name/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp. Only Fusion's virtual machine settings files for the Boot Camp partition are stored here; Fusion uses the Boot Camp partition as the virtual disk.

 

If you have used the virtual machine in VMware Fusion, you can locate its bundle.

 

To locate a virtual machine bundle:

1. Launch Fusion.
2. If the Virtual Machine Library window is not visible, go to Window > Virtual Machine Library.
3. From the list on the left side, press Ctrl and click the virtual machine for which you want to locate the files.
   
   Note: In Fusion 4.x and above (Icon view), press Ctrl and click the thumbnail of the virtual machine for which you want to locate the files.
    
4. Click Show in Finder.

If the virtual machine does not appear in the Virtual Machine Library, you can use Mac OS X's built-in Spotlight feature to locate it:

1. Click the Spotlight icon in the top-right corner of your screen (at the far right of the menu bar next to Notification Center icon in Mountain Lion).
2. Type .vmwarevm.
3. Click Show All.
4. If you see more results that are not virtual machines, click File Name from the search result window's search bar (rather than Contents).
5. Press Ctrl and click the virtual machine whose files you wish to locate.
6. Click Open Enclosing Folder.

The revealed object is the virtual machine bundle. To see its contents:

1. Press Ctrl and click the bundle (Right-click the bundle).
2. Click Show Package Contents.