Repair Corrupted/Unreadable VHD or VHDX Files

Overview of VHDX/VHD Corruption

VHD and VHDX files are recognized as two major virtual disk image file formats used to create a virtual environment of a Windows system. Similar to a physical hard disk drive, a VHD/VHDX file is vulnerable to corruption. As a consequence, the entire virtual machine file data becomes inaccessible. Therefore, knowing how to repair VHDX and recover data from corrupted VHDX files begins the main topic of this page.

The issue of VHD corruption with data loss can be a nightmare for many users, so it's important to know how to get corrupted VHD files back in Windows 10 or other Windows systems. Many of you are told to run VHD data recovery tools inside the virtual machine when data is in danger. But are those data files recoverable after the VHDX gets corrupted? We need to observe a little how the virtual hard disk is structured. Read from the Virtual Hard Disk specification (available here), and you can see that virtual hard disks have the following structure:

Can you recover data from corrupted VHD or VHDX files?

• If Virtual PC / Virtual Server / Hyper-V report that the virtual hard disk is corrupt – then one of the headers/footer sections has been corrupted – there is nothing you can do.
• If the virtual machine starts correctly – but then reports errors accessing the disk – run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard inside the virtual machine.

How do you opt for VHDX repair solutions for different scenarios?

• If the HVD or VHDX image files are damaged or corrupted, being unable to be loaded, please get in touch with a local or online VHD repair center or the support team of your VHD manufacturer and ask them for help.
• If the VHD or VHDX image files are safe, try to reboot your virtual machine and check if you can visit your VHD or VHDX disks. If not, move on to follow Part 1 to restore important files on your virtual disk and run methods in Part 2 to repair the corrupted or unreadable virtual disk. 

Part 1. Recover Corrupted VHD Files with VHD Data Recovery Tool

It is necessary for users to choose a professional data recovery tool to bring back their corrupted VHD files. Here we recommend EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. It works effectively to help you restore all files from VHD or VHDX disk partition with simple clicks. Check the brilliant features of this data recovery software first.

• Recover corrupted and lost files and data in 3 steps.
• recover files from emptied Recycle Bin, HDD/SSD, external hard drive, SD card, and more.
• Support users to preview recoverable files before actual recovery.
• 100% secure and works well on both Windows and Mac computers.

Download and install this VHD repair tool on your VM and apply the steps to restore your lost VHD files:

Step 1. Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Choose the drive where you lost files and start scanning by clicking "Search for Lost Data". This software allows you to recover lost data from all devices, including HDD, SSD, USB drive, SD card, pen drive, camera, etc.

Step 2. Browse the full scan results. You can choose the file type you need by clicking on the file type filter. EaseUS data recovery software supports 1000+ file types like photos, videos, documents, emails, audio files, and many more. 

Step 3. Select the files you want to preview. Click "Recover" and set a storage location or Cloud drive to save the recovered data. 

Part 2. Repair the Corrupted or Unreadable VHD/VHDX

After getting all data out of the unreadable virtual disk, you can now follow the VHDX repair part to repair and fix the corrupted VHD or VHDX:

Method 1. Run CHKDSK command to repair bad sectors on VHD

If bad sectors exist on your virtual disk, you may not be able to access all saved data or important files on the drive. CHKDSK command will effectively solve this issue and repair all bad sectors on VHD for you:

Caution: As the CHKDSK command will cause a permanent data loss error, ensure you recover all data from the VHD or VHDX drive with a reliable EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard first.

• Click Search and, type: cmd, hit "Enter" to bring up Command Prompt.
• Right-click Command Prompt and select "Run as administrator."
• Type: chkdsk D: /f /r /x and hit "Enter".

By doing so, the CHKDSK command will automatically find and repair all existing errors, bad sectors, and even corrupted system files on your VHD disk.

Use CHKDSK Alternative to Fix Problematic Device

Download EaseUS CleanGenius from the product page and install it on your computer. Then, let's start checking and refixing the file system error on your device.

Step 1. Click "File Showing" to enter the next step.

Step 2. Choose the target device and tick the box of "Check and fix file system error". Click "Execute" to start fixing the problematic device.

Step 3. When the fixing process completes, click "here" to open and use your device. 

Method 2. Format VHD to NTFS file system

If the VHD disk is still not working, you can directly format the disk into the NTFS file system to make it work again:

• Open This PC on your virtual machine, find and right-click on the VHD disk, and select Format.
• Select NTFS as the file system of VHD that you want to format it to.
• Then click "OK" to confirm that you need to format the VHD to NTFS.

Method 3. Delete and create a new VHD partition

The last way you can try is to delete and create a new partition on your VHD disk.

• Right-click on This PC > Manage.
• Click Disk Management, find and right-click on the VHD disk partition, then select Delete Volume;
• Click Yes to confirm the deletion;
• Then right-click on the unallocated space on the VHD and select New Simple Volume;
• Assign the volume with a new drive letter, file system, and size, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.

After this, you'll get a brand new VHD partition, which you can use to save data again.

Still cannot solve the problem? If the provided methods don't work, you may need a manual fix. Try to email the EaseUS Support team at [email protected]. You're not guaranteed a 100% working VHD/VHDX repair from there, but it seems the last resort when all the online workarounds cannot help.

VHDX Repair FAQs

1. How to recover the deleted VHD file?

Run EaseUS VHD recovery Software on your PC. Choose the partition drive where your VHD file was created, and click the Scan button. After a while, depending on how large the VHD file is, the software will automatically display the scanning results for you. Locate the VHD file you're looking for and click the Recover button. You're then able to recover the deleted VHD file successfully.

2. Is it possible to recover shift-deleted VHD data?

Using the Shift and Del/Delete keys to delete a file or bulk delete some files are said to be a permanent deletion. In this case, only the third-party data recovery software can scan and recover permanently deleted files from the VHD files.