Hello everyone today in this article we will show you how to open a VMDK file in Windows. VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) is a file format that represents a virtual hard disk used in virtual machines such as VMware Workstation and VirtualBox. VMDK is an open format developed by VMware, generally used for virtualization and cloud computing or Cloud backup services. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
VMware Virtual Machine Disk File (VMDK) is a format specification for virtual machine (VM) files. A file with the .VMDK file extension is essentially a complete, stand-alone virtual machine. VMDK was originally developed by VMware, but is now an open file format that competes with the Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) disk format, and the two are not directly compatible.
There are third party tools such as VMDK to VHD Converter that help with the conversion. A VMDK file is a virtual hard drive image used natively by VMware products, such as the free VMware Player. These files are a key component in virtual machines, which are other computer systems emulated within a host operating system. Virtual machines are useful in a variety of situations.
For example, if your company wants to test a new software product with multiple operating systems, you can do so with the software in a virtual machine instead of using multiple computers or operating systems in a dual-boot configuration. before proceeding, we recommend you to update windows 11/10
How to open a VMDK file in Windows 11/10
How to mount a VMDK file on Windows 11 using VMware Workstation
- Right-click the .vmdk extension file you want to open, select Show More Options > Assign Virtual Disk. This option will only be available if you have installed VMware Workstation on Windows.
- On a side note, the “Assign first volume as Z: (read-only)” option will mount and open only the first volume of the VMDK file. Since we probably aren’t sure which volume is the first (in most cases, it would be a system reserved disk), the option won’t always be useful. It is simply better to select the Mount virtual disk option to open all partitions.
- Select the partition you would like to mount in the Volume section. Next, select whether you want to open the VMDK file in read-only mode. Finally, select a drive letter you want to assign this partition to and click OK to continue.
- It is recommended to enable read-only mode to avoid any accidental or unwanted modification of the files on the virtual disk. If you know what you are doing, you can remove the option and make the virtual disk writable while opening it on your host computer.
- Once the VMDK file is successfully mapped, you can access the virtual disk by going to This PC > Local Disk (Z:) or whatever drive you map the virtual disk to via File Explorer. Now you can copy any data and files you want from the virtual hard drive (VMDK).
How to open a VMDK file in Windows 11 using 7-Zip
- Download and install 7-Zip if you don’t already have the software.
- Once installed, right-click the .vmdk extension file and select Show More Options > 7-Zip > Open Archive.
- The VMDK file will open in the 7-Zip archive window where you can browse as you would in File Explorer.
- To copy files or folders from the VMDK virtual drive, simply select the files or folders in the 7-Zip archive window and select Extract to extract them to your local drive. Alternatively, you can extract files or folders by dragging and dropping them from the file window to anywhere you like.
Final Words
We hope you enjoy our article on How to open a VMDK file in Windows 11/10. The VMDK format was introduced by VMWare, but it works on virtually all VM software. First, we will see how to do the same with VirtualBox. Follow the steps given to open the Virtual Machine Disk file on VirtualBox. If you liked our article, please share it with others.
