Need help retrieving VM's in gui after I removed "config.db"

[AgilePeeler]

Hello everyone, I was dabbling in adding storage to my proxmox server with the help of an expansion card. For some reason it stopped me from browsing to the web GUI from other machines on the LAN, but I could curl it fine on localhost. In my infinite wisdom I followed a random tip on the forum to remove the "config.db" file which subsequently removed all my VMs from the web gui. I've followed this thread in my process to restore the VMs and I've made progress. I can now see the VM disks. But I do not understand how to combine the freshly created VM's with the old disks with the "qm rescan" command. After I use it the VM disk is connected to the new VM, but I'm met with the normal install OS screen when starting the VM, I'm afraid to continue that in case it would overwrite the original data.

My question is, how do I proceed in getting my VMs back to normal pre delete "config.db" state after adding the disks to a new VM with the same OS using the "qm rescan" command.

Thanks for reading this and I hope I've given enough information, otherwise ping me and I'll make it available.

 

[Dunuin]

After I use it the VM disk is connected to the new VM, but I'm met with the normal install OS screen when starting the VM, I'm afraid to continue that in case it would overwrite the original data.

The config of your new VM needs to match the config of the lost VM (Q35 vs SeaBIOS, pre-enrolled keys or not, boot order, SCSI vs SATA vs IDE vs virtio, ...). Also make sure to eject the virtual CD/DVD or change the boot order so it tries to boot from the virtual system disk first.

VM backups also include a copy of the VMs config file. You could extract it from there and use it with the more recent virtual disks.

For the future make sure to not only backup your guests but also PVEs config files (so the "/etc" folder, especially "/etc/pve").

 

[AgilePeeler]

Ah, and since I don't have the original configs or backups it will be quite hard to make them proper from memory correct?

 

[Dunuin]

Ah, and since I don't have the original configs or backups it will be quite hard to make them proper from memory correct?

Yes. You will have to try until you find the correct combination for it to boot. In case you see a small virtual disk (like 4MB) it probably was a OVMF and not a SeaBIOS VM.

 

[AgilePeeler]

Just so I understand it correctly, all settings, under all of these tabs need to be exactly as the previous one?

Thanks, this help is really appreciated Dunuin

 

[Dunuin]

No not all. but especially those I mentioned above related to storage, BIOS/UEFI and secure boot.

 

[AgilePeeler]

Okay, then it might be a bit easier, I dont think I've changed those to much. If I am successful, the VM should skip the "install" part right, and basically be resumed as normal

 

[Dunuin]

Okay, then it might be a bit easier, I dont think I've changed those to much. If I am successful, the VM should skip the "install" part right, and basically be resumed as normal

Yes. The question is why you get an "install part" in the first place when not having an ISO inserted.

 

[AgilePeeler]

Yea, fair point, I've made sure to remove the initial disk when creating the new VM. I've managed to "save" the data on my disks atleast, I tried to create a new OpenMediaVault VM forwarded the disks to it. OMV was then able to instantly pick up those disks and use them as normal. I need to evaluate if it's worth trying to save the VMs too, might be a good time to set them up properly.

 

[AgilePeeler]

I've managed to create a new Openmediavault vm and added the storage disks to the vm with passthrough and it was able to use them immediatly, I'll remake the other vms since they did not have as important data.