Use a text editor like vi to open .vmdk .
vmkfstools -c -a -d thin temp.vmdk
If vmkfstools fails or you are using VMware Workstation, you must manually edit the descriptor file. vmware recover from flat vmdk
# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 CID=fffffffe parentCID=ffffffff createType="vmfs" Use a text editor like vi to open
# Find the loop device name (e.g., /dev/loop0) losetup -a vmware recover from flat vmdk
cd /vmfs/volumes/DATASTORE_NAME/VM_NAME .