Opening a WindowsImageBackup VHD file

I am trying to open a large ( 345GB ) WindowsImageBackup VHD file using Windows Explorer and have had a blinking hourglass icon on my screen for about 12 hours. I wanted to know if this is normal and if I should continue to wait or take other action. I am running Windows 7 pro 64bit and used the procedure from a previous Windows 7 Forum to access Disk Management and attach the VHD file and get to the screen where I could select and open the file. I am trying to restore a file I deleted by mistake using the image backup. Is the blinking hourglass normal? Is there anything I need to do at this point or just continue to wait? Any advice would be appreciated.

If you can't get to it in a reasonable amount of time and you just want some files from it you could add the vhd as a second hard drive to xp mode and get to the files that way. No I don't think that's normal it should just bling bling right away like any other device.

Thanks Jeremy,
I would like to try your suggestion to add the vhd as a second hard drive to xp mode. Any resource available giving the steps necessay to do this ? I am just learning my way around 7 and need some direction otherwise it takes me a long time to figure things out. Thanks again, Steve Walker( reklawas )

You can also open windows .vhd files as an archive with 7-Zip. Look, extract etc.
It works fine on my images of ~60GB but your 345GB image is on the large side.

Are you following these steps to mount in Disk Management:

Virtual Hard Disk - Create and Attach VHD

It may take awhile to mount or edit an image of that size.

I believe the OP has tried attaching the VHD using Disk Management.

Thanks for the input,
I decided to stop trying to open the VHD file and clicked end task in the task manager which removed it from the task manager application screen but still left the blinking hourglass icon next to the mouse pointer. I went to the VHD file in explorer to investigate the status and when I right clicked the file I got a blue screen doing a data dump and then restarting my computer in normal mode. I then went back to disk management to detach the file and the detach option was not available. This leads me to believe the file was never attached. I would welcome a description of how to add this VHD backup file as a second hard drive in xp mode as previously suggested by Jeremy.
Thanks to All , Steven Walker ( reklawas )

I see you have windows 7 Pro if you don't have xp mode you can get it here Download Windows XP Mode
Once you have xp mode and it is installed and probably started once and shut it down (not hibernate.)
Then type: virtual machines in start menu and open it. Right click on xp mode and go to settings select Hard Disk 2 then just browse for the vhd. That's it you can start xp mode. You need to enable intergration to make it easier to get your files back into windows 7.

It is pretty big - you might have an issue with it being corrupt.

If you just want a file back - try previous versions , or ( better ) ShadowExplorer.com - Manual

I just attached a 247GB vhd using Disk management and it opened within a couple of seconds, then was fast to browse and extract stuff from - Magic! Couldn't have been easier

Right click on Disk Management and attach VHD