Problem with virtualbox on openSUSE Leap 15.6

Question

Hello!I need your help.I’m using Linux openSUSE Leap 15.6.Last night, I was working on a virtual machine when the power suddenly went out. After this unexpected shutdown, I can no longer start my Windows 10 virtual machine in VirtualBox 7.0. It contains very important files.Based on the screenshot, it seems that the Windows10.vdi file is either missing or corrupted.Has anyone encountered a similar issue and knows how to recover the virtual machine or at least retrieve data from it?Unfortunately, I didn’t make any backups and never thought something like this could happen…I would be extremely grateful for any advice or help!  Screenshot_20250722_081647.png

Code Wizard · Answer

VD: error VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUNDCould not open the medium: /home/PaulWilliamson/Documents/VirtualBox VMs/Windows10/Windows10.vdi 1. Check if the base VDI is really gone Run this in terminal: ls -lh "/home/PaulWilliamson/Documents/VirtualBox VMs/Windows10/" Look for Windows10.vdi — is it there? If not: a. Check Trash: ls -lh ~/.local/share/Trash/files/ Look for Windows10.vdi there. If found, restore it. b. Search entire disk for the file: sudo find / -name "Windows10.vdi" 2>/dev/null 2. If File is Missing — Try File Recovery Use testdisk (safe, powerful): sudo zypper install testdisk Run it: sudo testdisk Choose your disk. Select [Advanced] → [Undelete]. Look for deleted .vdi files. Recover to another location. 3. If You Find the VDI Copy it back to: /home/PaulWilliamson/Documents/VirtualBox VMs/Windows10/Windows10.vdi Then in VirtualBox: Right-click the VM → Settings → Storage → Remove inaccessible drives. Add the recovered VDI file manually. 4. No Recovery? Try Snapshot Recovery If Windows10.vdi is gone but you have the differencing VDI files, it's possible to manually reconstruct the VM if you recover the base file or have any backup of it, even if outdated. Unfortunately, differencing files are useless alone — they only store changes, not the full data. 5. Plan B — Data Recovery From VDI Fragments If only snapshot .vdi files are left, you might try mounting them, but VirtualBox expects the base file. Let me know if: You can find partial VDI files. Or you have disk images from host OS (we could try to scan them for lost files using photorec). What To Do Now: Run the ls and find commands above. Tell me if the base Windows10.vdi exists anywhere or is completely missing. If missing, try testdisk and let me know what it finds. I can guide further based on that. Don’t give up — file recovery is often possible.