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angelbach69
Contributor
Contributor

Invalid datastore path cloning a vm

I'm using VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.0.42000 Build number 15132721

I get the error Invalid datastore path '[datastore.251] Server2/Server2.vmdk' when cloning a VM from a VMware ESXi 6.7.0 8169922 to a VMware ESXi, 6.7.0 14320388

But I get the same error in other three cases with other vCenter and Esxi environments (also previous builds).

The only common thing is that the cloned vm has more than one hard disk.

Thanks

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jburen
Expert
Expert

You say you get the same error in three other cases. Do you always get the error when you try to create a clone? Could it be a permissions issue?

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angelbach69
Contributor
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Yes I always get the error when I try to create a clone in every esxi environment.

I don't think it's a permissions issue...I have no problem with another cloning software and no problem with any vCenter operations (start, stop, snapshot, etc.).

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jburen
Expert
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Actions on a VM like starting or stopping are different privileges than those needed for creating a clone. For this you would also need other privileges.

You must have the following privileges to clone a virtual machine:

  • Virtual machine .Provisioning.Clone virtual machine on the virtual machine you are cloning.
  • Virtual machine .Inventory.Create from existing on the datacenter or virtual machine folder.
  • Virtual machine.Configuration.Add new disk on the datacenter or virtual machine folder.
  • Resource.Assign virtual machine to resource pool on the destination host, cluster, or resource pool.
  • Datastore.Allocate space on the destination datastore or datastore folder.
  • Network.Assign network on the network to which the virtual machine will be assigned.
  • Virtual machine .Provisioning.Customize on the virtual machine or virtual machine folder if you are customizing the guest operating system.
  • Virtual machine .Provisioning.Read customization specifications on the root vCenter Server if you are customizing the guest operating system.
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angelbach69
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I added an hard disk succesfully...and the "Invalid datastore path" occurs during the cloning operation (it starts correctly).

The cloning operation goes well if I exclude from the cloning the one of the 2 hard disks that causes the error.

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jburen
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Then you would need to look at the properties of that second hard disk.

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angelbach69
Contributor
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The properties in the "edit settings"? They are the same of the disk I can clone. (see the attachment)

The problem occurs after a specific build I cannot identify...before I was able to clone all the systems that now I cannot.

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jburen
Expert
Expert

Is it possible to perform a storage migration of the VM you would like to clone?

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angelbach69
Contributor
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The datastore is in the server raid of the os.

I'm able to clone the vm to another esxi using a different clone utility...it goes well.

Why?But I cannot think about something wrong with the storage, because I have the same problem with 2 other vmware systems.

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jburen
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I'm afraid I'm running out of things I could think of...

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angelbach69
Contributor
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Thanks for your time.

I'll try to create a new vmx adding the 2 hdd separately and trying to clone the vm.

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hegdec
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi, were you able to get the solution for this? I am facing the same issue while I try to clone across the hosts which are registered to different vCenter instances. However, in my case the error is pointing to the disk as mentioned in the problem description which happens to be the multi-writer flag enabled which is also skipped during the clone process.

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angelbach69
Contributor
Contributor

No I did not find a solution 😞

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murada
Contributor
Contributor

I got the same problem.
Just checked my snapshots and deleted all existing snapshots.
After that, I was able to clone the server without problem.

jdptechnc
Expert
Expert

This is still a problem in vSphere 7.0 Update 3.  I almost always do cloning using other tools (Ansible usually), but was troubleshooting a different issue today and tried cross-vcenter cloning using the vCenter Ui.  Source VM has snapshots, and cloning it using vCenter to a linked vCenter fails with the same "invalid datastore" error.

Please consider marking as "helpful", if you find this post useful. Thanks!... IT Guy since 12/2000... Virtual since 10/2006... VCAP-DCA #2222
RCWard
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same issue - running 7.0.3o , where if I try and clone a VM (with active snapshots) but only if I try to use the cross site vCenter clone

I also tried using the SSO Admin user in case it was permissions related - but no dice

I can clone the vm locally on the same vCenter with active snapshots

I can then clone that cloned VM cross site - so has to be snapshot related

 

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