For quick recovery, try vmware-vdiskmanager -R . For manual control, edit the descriptor file yourself. Either way, your VM can live again.
ddb.adapterType = "ide" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "16383" ddb.geometry.heads = "16" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4" how to recover vmdk from flat file
Template for – works for most small/legacy VMDKs: For quick recovery, try vmware-vdiskmanager -R