ls -lh /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/YourVM/ Look for *-flat.vmdk . If it exists but the small .vmdk is missing or zero bytes, recovery is possible. You have three reliable methods. Method A: Use vmkfstools (ESXi command line) This is the safest and fastest method.
The descriptor points to the flat file. Without it, VMware has no way to interpret the raw data. Check the file size. A flat VMDK should be exactly the provisioned size of the disk (e.g., 40 GB). Use the datastore browser or command line: recover virtual machine from flat vmdk
Critical: The extent size must match the flat file size in sectors. Compute: ls -lh /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/YourVM/ Look for *-flat