VM failed to lock the disk - cannot open the disk HELP!

[touran22]

Hi Guys

in need of some serious help.

I tried to deattach a disk from a VM (i turned it off first) however it gave me an error that it was connected to a parent disk. i left it and tried to reboot the VM, but it started giving me all sorts of errors.

I managed to get the VM to open but the files on there are 1 years old so it's obviously booted from a snapshot - The thing is i don't have any recent snapshots (2017 is the most recent and what it seems to have booted from).

In the datastore i see this:

PLHQFS_1.vmdk - This is now the one that boots but is 1 years old

PLHQFS_1-000001.vmdk - errors

PLHQFS_1-000002.vmdk - errors

PLHQFS_1-000003.vmdk - errors

This is the error i get.

File system specific implementation of LookupAndOpen[file] failed
File system specific implementation of LookupAndOpen[file] failed
Failed to lock the file
Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/53302d48-809f8970-585c-00221989c350/PLHQFS/PLHQFS_1-000001.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
Failed to power on 'scsi0:2'.

Can any help at all, really stressing out over here.

Thanks.

[a_p_]

Unless already done, shutdown the VM immediately to avoid any possible further damage!

As a first step, please provide a complete list of files in the VM's folder. To do this connect to the host using e.g. putty, go to the VM's folder (e.g. cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<VMname>), and run the command ls -lisa > filelist,txt. Then download filelist.txt from the datastore, and attach it to a reply post

André

[touran22]

Please see file list attached.

[a_p_]

What I'd like to have are all the descriptor .vmdk files (the .vmdk files with a size less than 1kB), i.e. no flat, delta, or ctk files.

Please download these files from the VM's folder (using e.g. WinSCP), along with "PLHQFS_1" (a file with no extension!?), "PLHQFS.vmx", and "PLHQFS.vmsd". Then compress/zip these files, and attach the resulting .zip archive to a reply post. Make sure that the .vmx file dosn't contain an "Annotations" entry with information that you don't want to disclose.

How much free disk space do you have on the datastore?

Do you use a VM based backup application? Please check whether the backup server, or any backup proxies still have virtual disks from this VM attached, due to e.g. an unsuccessful backup. In such a case, you may need to manually detach these disks from the backup server/proxies (just detach, don't delete from disk!!!).

André

[touran22]

Hi

I've attached the files (there are some logs in there that might be useful).

That PLHQFS_1 with no file type is actually a folder i created - useless i guess.

On that datastore i have 166gb free of 1.91tb

I used to use Veeam but that server moved to Azure and the idea was to move this aswell so didn't bother backing it up (yes from this day fourth i have learnt my lesson).

Hope these are enough to figure out whats going on?!

Thanks.

[a_p_]

It looks like someone tried to fix the VM, but with doing this made things even worse.

Anyway, it may be possible to get it to work (with more, or less file system corruption). Prior to providing the modified files, you'd need to answer some questions.

Here's what I found so far:

scsi0:0.fileName = "PLHQFS-000002.vmdk"

--> ok: 2 -> 1 -> Base

scsi0:3.fileName = "PLHQFS_3-000015.vmdk"

---> Complete mess: Only 1 -> Base makes sense! Other files may be ignored.

scsi0:4.fileName = "PLHQFS_4-000002.vmdk"

--> Error: 2 -> 1 -> Base - Broken Snapshot chain.

scsi0:5.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/501c259e-7f136810-dd9a-00221989c34e/PLHQXEROX/PLHQXEROX_1-000002.vmdk"

--> Please provide (attach) this virtual disk's .vmdk descriptor files to a reply post.

scsi0:6.fileName = "PLHQFS_5-000001.vmdk"

--> Error: 1 -> Base - Snapshot may be ignored!

scsi0:8.fileName = "PLHQFS_1-000002.vmdk"

scsi0:9.fileName = "PLHQFS_1-000003.vmdk"

Two entries for the same virtual disk will not work. In addition, these two snapshot file seem to be useless.

"PLHQFS_1-000001.vmdk" makes sense, but has a broken snapshot chain to Base!

PLHQFS_2.vmdk is missing in the VM's configuration!?

"PLHQFS_2-000001.vmdk" makes sense, but has a broken snapshot chain to Base!

With the above information, what needs to be done is to fix the snapshot chains, and reconfigure the VM, i.e. remove duplicate disks, and add the missing one.

If you agree, then provide the missing .vmdk descriptor files, so that I can proceed with fixing the files, and providing you with the required steps.

André

[touran22]

Hi Andre

we can ignore this:

scsi0:5.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/501c259e-7f136810-dd9a-00221989c34e/PLHQXEROX/PLHQXEROX_1-000002.vmdk"

--> Please provide (attach) this virtual disk's .vmdk descriptor files to a reply post. - CAN IGNORE AS I DO NOT NEED THE FILES

The only thing im really interested in is PLHQFS_1 as this is where the 2018 files are kept!

So yes i totally agree anything you can do to help fix would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks again

Touran

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Ok, here's what I think should work. However, keep in mind that some guest OS files might be damaged.

1. remove the virtual machine from the vSphere Client's inventory (DON'T delete from disk)
2. delete all of the VM's CBT (...-ctk.vmdk) files
3. extract, and upload the attached files into the VM's folder
4. right click the VM's .vmx file, and register it to the inventory
5. create a new snapshot to make sure that the current files won't be modified in case something doesn't work as expected
6. at first power on, you may be asked whether the VM has been moved, or copied. Answer the question with "I moved it"

If everything works, and you're planning to use this VM in the future, it will make sense to do some cleanup, i.e. remove orphaned files.

In this case, create another file list, and attach it - along with the VM's current vmware.log - to a reply post.

André

[touran22]

Andre

I don't know how to thank you enough, it worked perfectly!!!!!

You sir deserve a medal!

Thank you so much!!!!