An error pops up saying "Cannot open configuration file",What should I do?

[Eric_Yang]

When I power on a VM, a error pops up saying "Cannot open configuration file"/vmfs/volumes/45efe095-52263a0a-d19b-00110a531a7e/w2k3-3/w2k3-3.vmx, and VM can not continue to start up, what is the problem

[conradsia]

Are you able to browse the data store that the config file is hosted on? It sound like it can't access your storage. Is it a local vmfs?

[Eric_Yang]

Yes, I can browse the data store. it is a local vmfs

[lholling]

Chances are that if the .vmx file exists then it is simply a matter that the file does not have the "x" right.

Login to the server (using the console or putty) as a root or equivalent user and then go to the directory that the file is in and type the following

chmod 755 *.vmx

This should solve your problem.

Leonard...

[Eric_Yang]

I change *.vmx file using chmod 755 *.vmx, and it changes to -rwxr-xr-x, but the problem still exists.

[conradsia]

Can you add that vmx file to the inventory? remove the existing one and try to add it back using vmware-cmd or the datastore browser.

[trojanjo]

Is it possible the file is locked?

[Eric_Yang]

The problem still exists, I have to remove the VM and setup a completely new one, Thanks all for helping me, problem VM does not exist,next time if the problem occurs, I will try again.

[Eric_Yang]

The problem occurs again.

[Eric_Yang]

I could not add it backup to the same folder using datastore browser

[Fabio_Pitzolu]

Hi

If you haven't deleted the VM yet, try to run it by console commands (VMWARE-CMD) and post again. Maybe this way works, and we'll see what to do.

Bye

Fabio

[Teiva]

Hi Fabio, I tried "vmware-cmd <config.vmx> start" but did not have any luck. I did howerver manage to start my vm back up. See below.

my esx server: 3.0.1

Some info first and what caused my issue which then to my problem (same error as Eric.Yang)

1. My VM has 3 virtual disk. The first disk resides on a local datastore (local disk) and 2nd and 3rd on a external SAS storage.

2. At the moment my esx server has problem communicating with the SAS device where my workload's virtual disk 2 and 3 reside. For some reason it takes over 10 minutes to do a "vdh -h" or "ls -ls /vmfs/volumes".

3. I removed virtual disks 2 and 3 from my workload's config using VC .

4. I started the VM, still the same error.

5. I rebooted the ESX server and the workload started up, but not quickly. It took a while to start up. I assume this is because of my external storage device.

Anyway my issue was not related to permissions or config, i think just storage. I imagine that once I fix up the SAS then things will return to as normal as possible.

Cheers,

Teiva