Symptoms
If you use vctl utility in VMware Fusion 12.1.0 (or later version) or VMware Workstation 16.1.0 (or later version) to create and run a container with anonymous volume and then switch back to Fusion 12.0.0 or Workstation 16.0.0, the container's data stored in the anonymous volume is lost (when you start the container by using the vctl utility in Fusion 12.0.0 or Workstation 16.0.0).
Resolution
This is the expected behavior. VMware Fusion/workstation has a change on how the data of anonymous volume is stored. In VMware Fusion 12.0.0 and VMware Workstation 16.0.0, the data of the anonymous volume is stored directly on the host, while in Fusion 12.1.0 (or above version) and Workstation 16.1.0 (or above version), the data of the anonymous volume is stored in the crx.vmdk file. This storage change causes the anonymous volume data created by the vctl utility in Fusion 12.1.0 (or above version) or Workstation 16.1.0 (or above version) cannot be used by the vctl utility in Fusion 12.0.0 or Workstation 16.0.0
