VC_FAULT_FATAL - Disconnected from virtual machine.

[pbastiaans]

- ESXi 6.5 U1

- vCenter 6.5 Build 5973321

- VMFS 6

- Horizon 7.7

- VM Tools 10.3

- Instant Clone Pools

This error is only happening when publishing Windows 10 (1703, 1809) snapshots to the pool. Seeing the following:

• The snap publishes to the pool
• The machines in the pool are created and they are not powered on.
• The machines are renamed and joined to the domain.

VMware says there is a hotfix to address the issue. Is everyone experiencing this issue? Is no one creating Win10 instant clone pools?

[RvdVelde]

Did you solve this in the end? I'm having the exact same issue at the moment. pbastiaans​

[pbastiaans]

An update.

From my perspective, VMware is aware of an issue:

- appears they have been aware for aprox. 2 mos.

- appears it has to do with VMFS6 configured storage

- appears it begins with 1803

- appears there may be a hot fix, however, the ask from VMware is to build out a debug environment to test

We are moving to our own 'Plan B' to keep our Win10 project rolling. This consists of setting up seperate storage configured with VMFS5.

Will continue to update as I see this play out.

[RvdVelde]

pbastiaans​

Thanks.

It seems that we have fixed it for now, at least all the tests are successful since we did this:

In the master image / golden image, before shutdown force a ipconfig /release.

Then shut down the VM directly and create a new snapshot to use in the Horizon pools.

When we are rolling out in this order, we haven't seen the vc_fault_fatal - Disconnected from virtual machine anymore.

Not sure if this is a permanent "fix", but it seems to be working just fine for us right now.

[pbastiaans]

RvdVelde

For the record, what is your set up?

- ESXi?

- vCenter?

- VMFS ?

- Horizon?

- VM Tools?

- Instant Clone Pools?

Thank you!

[BenFB]

Running "ipconfig /release" before a snapshot has been a best practice on parent images for as long as I can remember.

[pbastiaans]

Ben,

Agreed. If anyone is interested, there's a script at this link to run before snapping:

https://www.ituda.com/vmware-horizon-view-recomposing-dont-forget-to-cleanup-after-you-finished/

It's a nice start, use at own risk.

[timiller96]

We had this issue in our environment as well. Upgrading to vCenter and ESXi to 6.7U2 fixed the issue for us.

[Kishoreg5674]

VMware is aware of this issue, please refer the below KB

VMware Knowledge Base

You may have to open a support ticket if you are still seeing this issue.

[pbastiaans]

Thank you.

I do have support ticket, I am more curious about...

"Is everyone experiencing this issue? Is no one creating Win10 instant clone pools?"

and more importantly if you are creating Windows 10 pools, specifics of your environment:

- ESXi ?

- vCenter ?

- VMFS ?

- Horizon ?

- VM Tools ?

- Instant Clone Pools ?

[sjesse]

I have one, the logon is slow(60-120 seconds) but I'm not seeing this issue

- ESXi ?

6.5 update 2

- vCenter ?

6.5 update 2

- VMFS ?

6

- Horizon ?

7.4

- VM Tools ?

10.3.5

- Instant Clone Pools ?

Based on a window 1703 image

I'm pending getting our new storage unit setup then I'll be trying VSphere 6.7/Horizon 7.8, if I see this I'll update here.

[pbastiaans]

Thank you sjesse,

That's the info I'm looking for, it is being done. Thanks for the info! Will you be testing 1809?

Have you seen these links on slow login:

Windows 10 slow login

I learned some stuff from following this article, dism, compact OS, ngen, ...

Creating an Optimized Windows Image for a VMware Horizon Virtual Desktop | VMware

[sjesse]

I'm building another completely updated pod, testing 1809 for everything(we are mainly on win 7 still), and then redirecting users to the new pod once we are happy.

I've seen that slow logon post(I have been collecting them as they come up) and my issue I believe is the last comment, we redirect appdata and I its an internal battle I am trying to fight. The believe is its worth the extra time to be sure data isn't lost , I haven't done it with windows 10, but I've seen this in windows 7 take 20-60 seconds longer if appdata is redirected. I think this is why Microsoft had there "bug" in 1803, as they don't like it being redirected either.

I like that article you mentioned as well, my windows 10 image is built 90% from that. Following that exactly we had issues with the mandatory profile being based off the Administrative profile and the os optimization fling broke some things by running the default windows 10 profile.

[pbastiaans · Accepted solution]

This was resolved by a hotfix from VMware, reach out to them if your experiencing the issue.