Conclusion. We have explained how to mount VMFS in Linux, Windows, and ESXi. The easiest way to mount existing VMFS datastores is ... NAKIVO Details of package vmfs-tools in sid Tools to access VMFS filesystems. VMFS is a clustered filesystem designed to store virtual machine disks for VMware ESX or ESXi Se... Debian -- Packages readme - Slackware UK vmfs-tools is a toolset for accessing vmware VMFS through the standard Linux VFS with the help of the FUSE framework. While it is ... Slackware UK Using vmkfstools in vSphere - Broadcom TechDocs Apr 2, 2026 —
: It is primarily designed for reading and extracting data; it is not a tool for managing active VMware datastores. For active management tasks like formatting or querying on an ESXi host, VMware provides the native vmkfstools command . Alternative Tools for Specific Needs vmfs tool
By using the right VMFS tool, administrators can ensure that their data remains accessible even when the primary hypervisor is offline, providing a critical layer of redundancy for enterprise storage. VMware vSphere VMFS Conclusion
| Scenario | Recommended Tool | |----------|------------------| | New datastore creation | vSphere Client / vmkfstools -C | | Datastore capacity increase | vmkfstools --growfs | | Migrating from VMFS-5 to VMFS-6 | esxcli storage vmfs upgrade | | Recover after partition table loss | vmkfstools -B | | Retrieve VMDK from corrupted datastore | R-Studio or UFS Explorer | | Space reclamation on thin LUNs | esxcli storage vmfs reclaim | NAKIVO Details of package vmfs-tools in sid Tools
: Your ESXi host has died, but your SAN or local disks are intact. You need to get the .vmdk files onto a new system immediately.