How to remove the snapshot disk from an exported Virtual Machine (4034798)

Virtual exports to Hyper-V or vCenter / ESXi, creates multiple .vhdx or .vmdk files. The extra files are snapshot disks. You can identify them with how they are named:

• Hyper-V snapshot disks have the word 'snapshot' in them. For example: disk2000-snapshot.vhdx.
• vCenter / ESXi snapshot disks have a '-000001' in them. For example: disk2000-000001.vmdk.

The VMs can be left as is and started and they will work normally. Many users like to merge the snapshot disks into the base .vhdx or .vmdk file, leaving on one file. Please see below for steps to merge the snapshot disks.

Remove snapshot disk from Hyper-V export:

Note: This must be done with the Hyper-V VM powered off:

The following steps were recorded using Hyper-V Manager on Windows Server 2016:

1. Open Hyper-V Manager.
2. Right click the VM and select Settings.
3. Select the hard disk that has ‘snapshot’ in the name and click on Edit.
4. The Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard will open, click Next.
5. Select Merge (which will consolidate this snapshot disk into the parent) and click Next.
6. Here you can choose to merge this into the parent disk, or into yet another disk (which will leave you with more than one disk again). For our purposes you leave the default of ‘To the parent virtual hard disk,' click Next, and click Finish.
7. This will take you back to the Settings page. Remove the hard disk from the machine, as it no longer exists. Click Remove and click Apply.
8. Now you can add the existing primary hard disk back to the VM.
9. Repeat steps 3 - 8 for all hard disks.

Remove snapshot disk from vCenter ESXi export:

The following steps were recorded using vSphere 6.5 on a VCSA:

1. Log into vCenter or the ESXi host.
2. Right click on the exported VM and select Snapshot \ Manage Snapshots. NOTE: this may vary depending on build and vCenter type.
3. Under All Actions select Delete All Snapshots.
4. The snapshot will be merged to the base vmdk file.