You can manually delete snapshots that you no longer need or to make more disk space available.

The virtual disk files that a snapshot creates do not contain the entire contents of the virtual machine's virtual disk. When you delete a snapshot, you must consolidate the changes that it captured into the original, parent virtual disk.

You cannot delete the snapshot showing the "Current State" of the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Allocate enough time for virtual disk consolidation. If a snapshot captured a state considerably different from the earlier state, for example, a service pack upgrade, the consolidation might take up to a few hours.

Procedure

  1. Select Virtual Machine > Snapshots.
  2. Select the snapshot to delete.

    Option

    Action

    To select multiple adjacent snapshots.

    Shift-click

    To select multiple snapshots that are not adjacent.

    Command-click

  3. Click Delete.
  4. Click Delete to confirm that you want to delete the snapshot.

Results

The snapshot is deleted and virtual disk consolidation takes place.