Four Simple Method to Open VHD File in Windows 7,8 & 10

Do you know what is VHD file and How to Open VHD File in Windows? Or ever you have work on VHD file. If this file is unknown to you, then I will answer all your questions in this post. Moreover, you will also learn how to create VHD file by two methods. And you will also get help to open corrupt VHD file.

Overview of VHD File

The VHD is a virtual hard disk format and which symbolize virtual hard disk drive. It consists of a disk partition, file system, files and folders like the hard disk drive. The virtual machine usually uses it as a hard disk.

The VHD file is used as a backup for your system image in Windows Vista and later version software. Though, in Windows XP and its old versions, NT-Backup tool was used to back up your system data. Now it is takes over by the Backup and Restore tool in Windows Vista and new versions. This tool supports two types of backups file backup and system backup. If you want to take back up of some particular files and folders, then you have to save them into ZIP files as file backup. However, if you want to take back up of the whole system, a disk image will be created and saved into VHD file format. So, let’s have a look how to create VHD files.

Methods to Create VHD Files

The Disk Management feature of windows is used to create VHD file for Virtual machine. On the other hand for taking the backup of whole system Backup and Restore tool is used. You can follow the below procedures to create VHD files after that we will discuss on “how to open VHD File”.

A. Create VHD Files Using Disk Management

1) In your system right-click on My Computer icon and click on Manage.

2) The Computer Management window will open in the Windows Explorer. Under the Storage tab click on Disk Management.

3) On the right-hand side, a list of separate area of Actions is available. Click on More Actions >> option shown below Disk Management. Click on Create VHD.

4) On Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk window, browse a location to save a new VHD file and give the name. Also, select the file size and virtual hard disk format. Click on OK.

5) Your virtual hard disk (VHD) file will be created within a few seconds and you can see your VHD file.

B. Create VHD Files Using Backup and Restore

1: In Start, go to the search bar and type Backup and Restore.

2: Open Control Panel >> All Control Panel Items >> Backup and Restore. Then, click on Create a system image under the Control Panel Home.

3: In the Create a system image window, choose the location to save the backup file.

4: Then choose the drive(s) which you want to include in the backup. Click on Next button to continue the process.

5: Make sure of the backup settings, before starting the backup process. Finally, click on the Start backup button.

Above are the methods which help you to create VHD file. Sometimes, VHD files become corrupt due to virus attacks, storage media failure, software malfunction, improper system shutdown, and many others. After corruption, you can’t access your VHD file anymore. Due which you can lose your data. So, in below section, you will find the solution to access VHD files.

Methods to Open VHD Files

Method 1:

To open VHD file, this would be the very first step. For this, run a script on Windows PowerShell which will help you mount the VHD file in the root folder. After that, you can run a CHKDSK on it. Run the commands given below. Kindly change fields accordingly:

Method 2:

In this method, create a new Virtual Machine, and then add the corrupt Virtual disk file to it. Then make it compact. Follow the below steps:

Step (1): First, create a new Virtual Server, and then add a new hard disk.

Step (2): Click on Settings, and choose the hard disk you have created earlier. After that browse to the VHD file that will not load.

Step (3): Click on the Virtual Disk Wizard, and choose the compact option. Confirm that Convert it to a fixed-size virtual hard disk option is selected.

VhdTool.exe /repair <BaseVhdFileName> <FirstSnapshotAVhdFileName> [/quiet]

Note: If the original size of your VHD is 30 GB in actual but it is occupied by 10 GB of data, then the new VHD file will only be compacted to 10 GB.

Step (4): Finally, you can save this VHD file as a new one with a new name (optional).

After the compact process of the VHD file, copy the VHD file back to the original server and try it to mount.

Method 3:

You can also go for VHD Tool provided by Microsoft. It has a facility to open VHD file. First, download the executable file, and then run it as an administrator on your system with a command as shown below:

Method 4:

At last, there is the alternate method Aryson VHD Recovery Software. It allows you to open VHD file created by FAT, FAT16, FAT32, FAT64, NTFS, HFS+ and EXTX file systems. It is a user-friendly software as it is designed for both technical and non-technical users.

Related Post