What is a .VMSN file?
VMSN stores a VMware virtual-machine snapshot - a frozen point in time.
- Did you know
- A VMware snapshot lets you roll a virtual machine back to an earlier state.
- When you capture a memory snapshot, the VMSN can hold the VM’s full physical memory and CPU registers, letting you revert it while still running.
- Forensic tools treat a VMSN much like a memory dump, and it even tucks away a PNG thumbnail of the VM’s screen.
- What Analyser reads
- Inspect virtual-machine descriptors (VMware .vmx, VirtualBox .vbox, OVF/OVA), disc images (Nero .nrg, Alcohol .mds/.mdf, CloneCD), embedded firmware (Intel HEX, Motorola S-record, UF2, ELF/AXF, Device Tree Blobs, U-Boot uImage), partition tables (MBR/GPT with GUIDs), Linux filesystem superblocks (ext2/3/4, SquashFS, cramfs, romfs) and Windows imaging (WIM/ESD) - reading headers directly, no upload.
- Depth of analysis
- .VMSN is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .VMSN file
- Drag a .VMSN file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.