PedroCavaleiro · November 15, 2025 04:57 · Jul 29, 2022 · Jul 29, 2022 · Jul 29, 2022
diff --git a/mount-vmdk-linux.md b/mount-vmdk-linux.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 VMDK is a virtual disk file from VMWare, reading without any "special" software is rather useful specially because I didn't want to install VMWare software
 
+It's possible that this works with vhd and vhdx but I didn't test it... If someone does test it let me know
+
 The steps are rather easy
 
 ## Mounting VMDK

diff --git a/README.md → mount-vmdk-linux.md b/README.md → mount-vmdk-linux.md
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Read VMDK on Linux
+
+VMDK is a virtual disk file from VMWare, reading without any "special" software is rather useful specially because I didn't want to install VMWare software
+
+The steps are rather easy
+
+## Mounting VMDK
+
+1. Get Loopback devices
+
+    You first need to see what Loopback devices are available on your system, in my case loop30 is usually available so I use that
+
+    To view which loopback devices are in use just type `sudo fdisk -l | grep /dev/loop` on your terminal or `df -h | grep /dev/loop`
+
+2. Create a mount point
+
+    Just create a mount point, as I usually only work with one VMDK at the time I created the mount point `vmdk` so the command should be `sudo mkdir /mnt/vmdk`
+
+3. Create the loopback device
+
+    In my case the I have loopback devices from 0 to 21 (*loop0 - loop21*) so I will use `loop30` and associalte with the vmdk file. To note that it must be the *diskname*-flat.vdmk file where *diskname* is your disk name.
+
+    To create the loopback device type `sudo losetup /dev/loop30 /mnt/storage/vm-flat.vmdk` where `/mnt/storage/vm-flat.vmdk` is the path to your vmdk file.
+
+4. Set the offset
+
+    Instead of performing calculations just get the offset using `parted` for that follow the following steps
+
+    1. `sudo parted /dev/loop30`
+    2. `unit`
+    3. `B`
+    4. `print`
+    5. `quit`
+    6. Get the offset from the output
+        After the command `print` you should have something like this
+
+        ```
+        Model: Loopback device (loopback)
+        Disk /dev/loop30: 118111600640B
+        Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
+        Partition Table: gpt
+        Disk Flags: 
+    
+        Number  Start       End            Size           File system  Name  Flags
+         1      1048576B    537919487B     536870912B     fat32              boot, esp
+         2      537919488B  118110552063B  117572632576B  ext4
+        ```
+        
+        In my case I want to access the second partition so I grab the start value for that partition which is `537919488` remember to remove the `B` at the end of the number
+    
+    7. Finally create a new loopback device for that partition `sudo losetup -o 537919488 /dev/loop31 /dev/loop30` where `loop30` is the loopback device to which the VMDK is associated and `loop31` is the new loopback dive to which the partition will be associated
+    
+6. Mount a new loopback device on the new mount point
+
+  Mount a new loopback device, I'll be using `loop31` which is associated with the partition and `/mnt/vmdk` as a mount point.
+  
+  So to perform the mount type `sudo mount /dev/loop31 /mnt/vmdk`
+  
+And you can now access to your VMDK file
+
+## Unmount VMDK
+
+After usage you should perform a unmount and loopback cleanup these steps are even more easy.
+
+1. `sudo umount /mnt/vmdk` where `/mnt/vmdk` is your mount point. *Ensure that your system isn't using anything on this mount point*
+2. `sudo losetup -d /dev/loop31`
+3. `sudo losetup -d /dev/loop30`
+
+On the steps 2 and 3 ensure that you remove the partition loopback first and then the disk loopback. Remember to use your loopXX devices that you used during the mount process.
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