Before we dive into operations that can be performed on virtual machines, let us first take an overview about virtual machines and the files that they are made up of. The generic definition of a virtual machine states that it is a mediation to the host CPU's hardware virtualization features. A virtual machine is a software implementation of a computer machine. Note that it is not emulation, as an emulator would also emulate the complete CPU, which is not applicable to vSphere. A virtual machine executes the processes in the same way a physical computer does. It provides a complete set of system platform on which an operating system and a set of applications can run.

However, as per VMware, a virtual Machine is a set of virtual hardware and features (in software format), in which a supported guest operating system and its applications can run. It is a set of discrete files. When a virtual machine is created, it creates with itself, a set of files which are used...