SCSI disk fails to boot when VM shutdown and powered up - after a snapshot

[rogerfinch73]

Hi

we're running VMware ESXi, 7.0.3, 20842708 and have just powered down a VM to run a snapshot (which worked), and when powering on the VM the boot manager fails to see the SCSI drive, so can't boot into Windows.

the config hasn't changes in VMWare at all. it was just a simple snapshot with it off.

this is a Dell VxRail cluster, but I've seen it last weekend on a standalone ESXi server too when doing a migration. That VM had to be restored.

we can mount the SCSI drive to another VM and read the contents, so the data is still there, but the original VM can't see it. removing and reading the disk doesn't work either.

is this a known bug on this version of ESX?

thanks

Roger

[rogerfinch73]

might be this - we're going to test

PR 3106817: After you install Windows Server 2022 update KB5022842, Windows Server 2022 virtual machines that use UEFI Secure Boot might fail to boot
After you install Windows update KB5022842 in Windows Server 2022 virtual machines that use UEFI Secure Boot, such VMs might fail to boot. The Windows update package delivers a new form of digital signature on the EFI bootloader, which UEFI Secure Boot incorrectly rejects. As a result, virtual machines might fail to locate a bootable operating system and not boot.

This issue is resolved in this release. If you already face the issue, after patching the host to ESXi 7.0 Update 3k, just power on the affected Windows Server 2022 VMs. After you patch a host to ESXi 7.0 Update 3k, you can migrate a running Windows Server 2022 VM from a host of version earlier than ESXi 7.0 Update 3k, install KB5022842, and the VM boots properly without any additional steps required.

[rogerfinch73]

yup, tested this on another server. this that patch installed it breaks the VM

uninstalling patch KB5022842 doesn't help - it's too late.

[Lalegre]

@rogerfinch73,

This is also well explained on this KB: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/90947.

If you cannot upgrade right now, what you could do is temporarily disable the Secure Boot of the VM.

[rogerfinch73]

thanks, yes, we're dependant on Dell's release schedule for most of our hosts.

secure boot off seems to be the fix. 

thanks Microsoft 😉