Virtual Disk API Programming Guide - Documentation - VMware

Sample VixMntapi Code
Virtual Disk Mount API
You call the VixMntapi functions after initializing VixDiskLib, connecting to a virtual machine, and opening a
disk handle. Here is sample code for Windows showing correct order of function calls.
MountTest() {
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE(VixDiskLib_Init() );
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE(VixMntapi_Init() );
VixDiskLib_ConnectEx(&connectParams, TRUE, NULL, NULL, &connection));
diskHandles = GetMyDiskHandles(diskPaths, connection, &connectParams, flags, &numberOfDisks);
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE(VixMntapi_OpenDiskSet(diskHandles, numberOfDisks, flags, &diskSet));
GetOsInfo(diskSet);
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE(VixMntapi_GetVolumeHandles(diskSet, &numberOfVolumes,
&volumeHandles));
for(size_t i = 0; i < numberOfVolumes; i++) {
VixVolumeHandle volumeHandle = volumeHandles[i];
VixVolumeInfo *volumeInfo;
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE( VixMntapi_MountVolume(volumeHandle, TRUE) );
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE( VixMntapi_GetVolumeInfo(volumeHandle, &volumeInfo) );
VixMntapi_FreeVolumeInfo(volumeInfo);
VerifyMountedVolume();
CleanUpMountedVolume(volumeHandle, volumeInfo);
}
VixMntapi_FreeVolumeHandles(volumeHandles);
vixError = VIX_ERR_CODE( VixMntapi_CloseDiskSet(diskSet) );
FreeMyDiskHandles(diskHandles, numberOfDisks);
VixMntapi_Exit();
VixDiskLib_Exit();
}
Restrictions on Virtual Disk Mount
The following limitations apply when mounting virtual disks:
You cannot mount virtual disks that are in use by a running or suspended virtual machine. You can mount
disks from a powered off virtual machine, disks not associated with a virtual machine, or base disks when
a Windows virtual machine is running off a snapshot (read‐only).
On Windows virtual machines you can mount previous snapshots read‐only. On Linux virtual machines
you cannot mount previous snapshots.
If you specify a virtual disk with snapshots on a powered off virtual machine, VixMntapi locates and
mounts the last snapshot in the disk chain. While a disk is mounted, do not revert to a previous snapshot
using another VMware interface – this would make it impossible to unmount the partition.
You cannot mount virtual disk if any of its .vmdk files are encrypted, compressed, or read‐only. However
you can change these attributes and then mount the virtual disk.
With Windows, you must mount virtual disks on drive D: or greater, and choose a drive letter not in use.
With Linux, kernel version 2.6 or higher is required to run the FUSE (file system in user space) module.
You cannot mount Linux swap or extended partitions. Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is not supported.
You can mount Windows virtual disks on Windows hosts (with an NTFS volume) or Linux virtual disks
on Linux hosts. Cross‐mounting is restricted but may be allowed for cross‐formatted file systems.
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