VMSS Converter

Extract text from VMSS files

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Drop or upload your .VMSS file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your VMSS file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your VMSS file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert VMSS to another file type

To convert your VMSS file to another format, you need VMware Workstation or other System software.

Convert a file to VMSS

To convert other file formats to the "Virtual Machine State" file type, you need software like VMware Workstation or a similar tool.

About VMSS files

A .VMSS file is a proprietary snapshot of a virtual machine's Random Access Memory (RAM) created by VMware software when a machine is placed in a 'Suspended' state. Unlike a standard document, this file is a binary freeze of the system's exact operational state, allowing users to pause a VM and resume it later exactly where they left off.

Users often encounter issues with .VMSS files when they consume gigabytes of disk space (matching the VM's allocated RAM) or when they attempt to migrate a VM to another platform like VirtualBox or Hyper-V. .VMSS files cannot be 'opened' in a text editor or media player. They are strictly locked to the specific version of the VMware product that created them.

Best Conversion Targets:

To Resume/Edit: Do not convert. Simply open the parent VMX file in VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion to 'thaw' the state.
For Forensics/Debugging: Convert the .VMSS (often requiring the accompanying VMEM file) to a Core Dump or Windows Memory Dump (.DMP) using the vmss2core command-line utility. This allows analysis in tools like WinDbg or GDB.
For Cleanup: If you do not need the saved state, you can delete the .VMSS file safely only if the VM is powered off, forcing the VM to boot from a fresh start.

Convert.Guru analyzes your VMSS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted DICT, VFD, VSV and DMP files.

FAQ

If you want to convert VMSS file to DMP, SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD, SCR or PIF, you can use VMware Workstation or similar software from the "Virtual Machine Memory Snapshot" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to VMSS, try VMware Workstation or another comparable tool in the "Virtual Machine Memory Snapshot" category.

The VMSS Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our VMSS converter.