nospam312 wrote:

> I have two VDI files in my snapshots folder and the main VDI in the
> folder up from the snapshots folder.
> 
> The snapshots tab looks like this:
> 
> + snapshot
>   + snapshot
>      current state
> 
> If I right click on current state and select Discard current snapshot
> and state the machine pause for several minutes and the hard drive
> goes mad obviously merging the snapshot.
> 
> This still leaves one snapshot file and the main VDI which I can't
> merge.  What do I need to do?

First of all, merging of VDIs happens implicitly when you discard a 
snapshot, to make sure all other snapshots (and the current state, when 
applicable) remain valid. From this point of view, merging is an 
internal operation the user doesn't have to care about. It's enough to 
know that discarding a snapshot affects neither other snapshots nor the 
current state -- they will still represent the same VM state and 
settings as before.

The only side effect of merging the user may want to know is that when 
he discards the very first snapshot hard disk changes stored in the next 
snapshot (or in the current state if there is no next snapshot) are 
merged to the base hard disk image (which is remembered in that first 
snapshot). As a consequence of this action, it won't be possible to 
restore the VM to the state before the first snapshot was taken (because 
the base image will be modified). But that is rather expected, actually.

Regarding your particular question. This is exactly the "first snapshot" 
thing I was talking above. I don't know what do you mean by "I can't 
merge" but in fact, there are the following options:

1. You select the "Current State" item and do "Discard Current Snapshot 
and State". In this case, the machine will go to the state it was in 
before the first snapshot was taken, effectively discarding all further 
changes.

2. You select the first snapshot and do "Discard Snapshot". In this 
case, the hard disk changes made since the snapshot was taken (they are 
stored in the second, differencing VDI, you mentioned above) are merged 
to the main hard disk image, effectively preserving the current VM state.

--
keep cool,
Dmitry A. Kuminov

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