Cannot start VM after creating snapshop

[mveras1972]

I have found a strange behavior. I have a Windows 2008 guest that I just copied to my new ESXi box. I am trying to create a snapshot before I upgrade the guest OS to Windows 2012. The VM has no snapshots right now. Every time I create a snapshot, it succeeds, but then I cannot start the VM saying it cannot find the vmdk delta file even though I see it exists in the datastore. In order to be able to start the VM, I have to delete it from the inventory and readd it, but then I lose the snapshot. I also have another VM running Windows 8.1 which is doing exactly the same thing. How can I safely create snapshots without damaging the VM? I also tried to create the snapshot while the VM was turned on but that causes it to crash and then it won't start again, so I have to repeat the process of removing it from inventory and readding it. Frustrating. See screenshots I attached.

Both these VMs were in Hyper-V in the past and I just converted them to VMware format using the StarWind V2V converter.

[prasannag6]

Hope the server is powering on without the snapshots? Can you also show the screenshot of the snapshot manager? Check which vmdk file the .vmx is pointing to..

Possible steps: Rename existing vmsd to vmsd.old --> Tak a dummy snapshot --> Delete all snapshots --> Remove the .vmsd & .vmsn file and try to recreate a snapshot to see if it works

[FritzBrause]

Can you paste the content of vmware.log file from VMs home folder.

Also check /var/log/hostd.log for any errors.

Maybe KB http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=10042...

But this is just a guess.

[mveras1972]

Yes, it does power on without snapshots. I found out that instead of removing the VM from inventory, all I have to do is remove the virtual hard disk from the VM settings and readd the hard disk but instead of pointing it to the 00001 vmdk file, I just point it to the base vmdk file and it starts up fine, but the delta file still exists in the datastore. Then once I create a snapshot it screws up again because when it creates the snapshot, it changes the hard disk to point to a new delta file which then becomes 000002.vmdk

How do I delete previously created snapshots? I believe I tried to delete a 00001.vmdk delta file from the data store and it deleted the whole thing including the main virtual hard drive and I had to go back to my backup to recover the VM.

I will publish the screenshots you requested as soon as I get home tonight. Thanks guys!

[FritzBrause]

That the new snapshot file becomes 00002, is expected. Because the 00001 already exists. So snapshot manager just takes the next available number.

Once you edit settings remove the disk from the VM (of course NOT delete, just removing), and you re-add the base disk, the VM runs from the base disk again.

Then it is save to delete the 0000x files from within Datastore Browser.

But the main problem here still is that your VM/ESX host does not like the snapshots.

Check the settings of your VM and mark the disk. Is the base disk maybe on "independent" mode?

I doubt, but just double-check.

Besides that, it is strange that your VM does not run on snapshots. It should be no problem to take a snapshot from the VM and powering off and on again.

As a test, create a new "dummy" VM (you don't have to install any Guest OS) on the same datastore. Play around with snapshots on this dummy VM and see if this works.

If yes, there is something in particular not ok with the other VMs. I cannot tell you what exactly. Maybe the logs have more details.

[a_p_]

... I just converted them to VMware format using the StarWind V2V converter.

According to the screenshots the conversion created a VMware Workstation .vmdk format (...-s00X.vmdk points to a sparse file format) which is not supported on ESXi. What you need to do is to convert the virtual disk to a format required by ESXi (either thick or thin).

André

[mveras1972]

When I converted from Hyper-V using Starwind V2V, my choices were VMware growable image, Preallocated image, or Vmware ESX server image. I chose VMWare growable image because I wanted the size of the virtual hard disk to grow over time instead of allocating all the hard drive space to it. The option for VMware ESX server image in Starwind says the space is already preallocated so it won't grow over time. Should I choose that one instead?

Sorry I haven't posted the log files yet. It's been very busy around here.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Yes, for an ESXi host as the target you either need to select the ESX f.vmdk format as the target (the growable option is for VMware Workstation), or you need to convert the virtual machine once again instead of simply uploading the files to an ESXi host.

André

[mveras1972]

I think you hit the nail in the head. I converted a copy of the VM from the workstation format to the ESX format as you instructed, but I used VMware VCenter Standalone Converter, and now I am able to create snapshots and restart the VM without a problem. What I found strange is that in the VMWare converter I got a "failed" error at 52% during the conversion, and it seemed to stop, but I saw that my network traffic was still going so I knew it was still copying the VM into the ESX datastore. When traffic stopped, I knew it was done and I checked the datastore and the converted VM was there. I added it to the inventory by creating a new VM and pointing it to the existing virtual drive. I powered it up thinking it wasn't going to work at all, but to my surprise it powered up with no problem and I made a couple of snapshots and it is still running. Thank you so much for the info!

I really don't trust the VMWare Converter Standalone anymore.