how to see the .vmx file in esxi?

I needed to check for sure the chain of snapshot files for my VM. I could see the disks in vCenter, and could see the .vmsd file, but before breaking the file lock on an old snapshot file and forcing a delete, I needed to be sure. In ESX you just ssh to the host and vi the .vmx file. ESXi doesn't allow you to do that on a running VM. So, what to do? create a vm-support bundle of the host, then unzip and untar it. find the vmfs directory and one more directory under there are the VMFS datastores listed with their .vmx files intact. Open them in your fave editor, and enjoy!