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I accidentally removed a VM from the Inventory on vCenter. Fortunately, I did not delete the files, so the VM is still on the datastore. How do I put it back to the inventory? I could just rebuild it from scratch and attach the disks, but I do not have the permissions to move files around on the datastore, so it would create a mess.

JohnEye
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  • This is staggeringly easy and would leap out to anyone making the most straightforward of google searches - this kind of thing is NOT what serverfault is here for, we expect question-posters to have covered the basics. – Chopper3 Apr 19 '17 at 16:37
  • @Chopper3: Believe it or not, it took me a while to find and it was not so straightforward as one would expect. Thanks for the opinion though. – JohnEye Apr 19 '17 at 16:45
  • Why was your question and answer immediate then? – Chopper3 Apr 19 '17 at 16:54
  • @Chopper3: Well, I searched for an answer on SE because they are generally a) easier to search for, b) more reliable than whatever you find in a decade-old forum post and c) editable if the circumstances change. I didn't find it, so, knowing the network encourages answering one's own questions, I did exactly that hoping that some people will find it useful down the road. Also, this is exactly what was suggested in several episodes of the Stack Exchange podcast, so why not? – JohnEye Apr 19 '17 at 16:59
  • @chopper3 So what is the point of ServerFault if not to help us avoid the nonsense answers a random Google search throws up? We get to come straight here and get a peer reviewed answer. PS: Google brought me here – user001 Jul 19 '22 at 08:09
  • @user001 because we expect question askers to have done the basics, the ABC's, to fix their own issues before coming here - it's in the help pages. – Chopper3 Jul 19 '22 at 10:37
  • @Chopper3 and the very first Google result brought me here and fixed the issue. No ads, no wrong answer, and no massive article. Just the answer – user001 Jul 19 '22 at 14:51

1 Answers1

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It's a bit counterintuitive as there is no simple import menu, but the VM can be added back to the inventory. Simply find the VMX file using the Datastore Browser, right click the file and select Add to Inventory.

The corresponding knowledge-base article that describes solution in details https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006160

Joshua Turnwell
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JohnEye
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