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kadhikari99
Contributor
Contributor
‎10-27-2019 02:04 PM

Inaccessible VM's

Hello All,

I have a two node cluster running esxi 6.5 U2. Some VM's are showing as inaccessible. So far I have done the following steps but have not been able to resolve issue.

1. Removed one VM from vCenter  inventory but was unable to add it back. Register VM option is greyed out when browsing the VM files from datastore.

2. Logged in to esx host via putty and navigated to one inaccessible VM folder,tried deleting .vmx.lck and .vmx` file but got an error and was not able to delete.

3. Vmotion all vm's from host1 to host2.

4. Put host1 in maintainence mode and then reboot.

5.tried registering VM same issue as step1. Tried steps in step2 , same result.

6. Vmotion all vm's from host2 to host1.

7. Put host2 in maintainence mode and reboot.

8. Tried things as per step 5 still no luck.

Appreciate if anyone can please advice on steps on how to resolve this issue.

Thank you

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2 Replies
depping
Leadership
Leadership
‎10-28-2019 12:06 AM

Why not call support? Is a bit easier in these situations, you may have hit a bug or may be they know a simple work-around

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KocPawel
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
‎10-28-2019 06:36 AM

Hi,

I am not sure if I understand what you did but:

"Removed one VM from vCenter  inventory but was unable to add it back. Register VM option is greyed out when browsing the VM files from datastore."

- Inaccessible VM appear when ESXi lost communication to virtual machine vmx configuration file. Usually it is caused by problems with storage connectivity. Register VM is greyed out because there is still lock on vm files. As you can see there i .vmx.lck file.

You said that you reboot host1 and host2. Maybe some other hosts hold this files? Check if any of 3rd party software doesn't hold this vm. For example backup solution?

Check if the storage volume  where this vm is located, is presented do other hosts....maybe vm is still working somewhere.

Check this out:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2110152

And second one (start with "ESXi troubleshooting steps"):

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/10051

You need to find out what is holding files and remove locks.

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