Startup error after hardware failure while consolidate VM

[steff911]

Hi there,

we have a Problem with starting a VM.

Yesterday we start to consolidate  Snapshots from an VM. This was interrupted by an error from hardware failure or something else.

Now i cant start the VM with the following error.

Das Starten der virtuellen Maschine ist fehlgeschlagen.
Einschalten des Moduls Disk fehlgeschlagen. 
Die Festplatte 'mzSrv1-000006.vmdk' oder eine der Snapshot-Festplatten, auf die sie angewiesen ist, konnte nicht geöffnet werden. 
Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden
VMware ESX kann die virtuelle Festplatte 'mzSrv1-000006.vmdk' nicht finden. Stellen Sie sicher, dass der Pfad gültig ist, und versuchen Sie es erneut. 

In the Snapshot-manager will no snapshot be shown.

Can somebody help us?

[Wonlliv]

Hi Steff,

did you already tried to create a new snapshot through the Snapshot-Manager and delete/consolidate it?

Or unregister the virtual machine from the inventory and re-register it.

Storage vMotion the machine onto another datastore would be another step I would take.

Best regards!

[steff911]

Hi, there.

Thanks for your answer.

Yes i tried to create a new snapshot.

Another Error will be shown

Fehler beim Erstellen eines Snapshots: msg.snapshot.error-NOTFOUND.

I also try to unregister und re-register the machine, but the same results.

[Wonlliv]

Ok!

It seems to be a CID mismatch due to the hardware failure during the consolidation.

There is a KB article addressing this issue:

VMware Knowledge Base

But, I would suggest to restore from the last possible backup point.https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1004232

[steff911]

The snapshot files are missing, but the main vmdk file seams to be on the latest stand.

i copied the file to my windows computer and open the vmdk with UFS Explorer Professional Recovery

So there are file with date of yesterday

Is it possible to easy change from mzSrv1-000006.vmdk which is missing to mzSrv1.vmdk

[a_p_]

To me it looks like the first of the three virtual disks has already been consolidated prior to the host issue, and just the configuration (.vmx) file has not been updated properly.

Since there's no more snapshot for "mzSrv1.vmdk" in the VM's folder, I'd go ahead and edit the configuration file, i.e. set the "scsi0:0.fileName" to "mzSrv1.vmdk".

Don't forget to reload the VM (see Step 2 in https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1026043) prior to powering it on again!

André

PS: Out of curiosity: Did you start the consolidation with the VM powered off, or on?

[steff911]

Hi André,

thanks fo your answer.

This was also my opinion and i try the way you write.

The VM starts but runs in an error by the operating system (Ubuntu with LVM)

The startup procedure end in initramfs

The system can´t find 2 devices from the root partion and it seems this will be the two other virtual disk.

Maybe something with the uuid

[a_p_]

I'm sorry, but I can't really help you with this issue. Anyway, I strongly recommend - unless already done - that you either backup all the VM's files (download via e.g. WinSCP), or at least create another snapshot, so that you can revert to the current state in case things become worse.

There are some hints on the Internet on what might help (in German), see e.g. Gefangen im "initramfs" Prompt | mars solutions GmbH

André