Using the guestmount command on linux works for me. I'm able to mount both an Ubuntu VM with multiple .vmdk files and a Windows10 VM with a single .vmdk like this:
sudo apt-get install libguestfs-tools
guestmount --help
sudo mkdir /mnt/u1 /mnt/u2
sudo guestmount -i -r /mnt/u1 -a ~/vmware/Ubuntu1804/Ubuntu.vmdk #1st .vmdk
sudo guestmount -i -r /mnt/u2 -a ~/vmware/Windows10/Windows10-disk1.vmdk
sudo cat /mnt/u1/etc/lsb-release #see if ubuntu vm file is readable
sudo cat /mnt/u2/Windows/system.ini #see if windows vm file is readable
sudo guestunmount /mnt/u1
sudo guestunmount /mnt/u2
7ZIP is able to open and extract VMDK files. You may try out its command-line version.
Mount the VMDK using VMware's Disk Mount utility, then copy the file you want, then unmount it.
See this page: http://www.vladan.fr/mounting-your-vmdk-disks-directly-to-your-windows-box-how-to/
Use 7zip with full path extraction to folder:
Using the
guestmount
command on linux works for me. I'm able to mount both an Ubuntu VM with multiple .vmdk files and a Windows10 VM with a single .vmdk like this: