My Vms is showing numbers

[imjajere]

Hi!

I just came to check my vms and is showing me numbers and I can only login through the esxi.

Any solution how to fix this issue

[tanjilislam]

You must check the datastore and folders for possible attacks. 

[mike-p]

Login via ssh and check the file names in the directories. If the files are not encrypted do a cat or less on the .vmx files. If it is not a ransomware attack you can try to reregister the vm's.

[sicnarf_latosa]

Try to rescan the storage. Also check if you can still console the VM or open the VM folder see if vm files can load if not that's a storage issue. 

[markey165]

@imjajere - as mentioned this could be a sign of ransomware. What build of ESXi are you running? ESXiArgs was doing the rounds about a year ago, and depending which variant you had, it typically encrypted the configuration files of the VMs and possibly others, rendering them inaccessible.

To test if the files have been encrypted or not, SSH into your ESXi host as root then run the following commands:

• cd /vmfs/volumes
• ls (to list the datastores. Identify the datastore(s) where your VM resides)
• cd datastorename
• ls (to list the VM folders in that datastore)
• cd vmfoldername
• ls (to list the VM files in that folder)
• Locate the .vmx file. This is the configuration file for the VM
• now run the command less filename.vmx to read it

If the file is intact, you should be able to read the contents, even if the VM is running. If you can't open it, or it is unreadable/garbage, then it has possibly been encrypted, or otherwise corrupted.