Unable to turn on Vm

[jasahuja]

i tried to Export a Windows 10 VM but had to cancel that 

after canceling i am unbale to power it on. When i checked the hostd logs i see the following error when powering on 

2023-05-15T16:59:05.063Z verbose hostd[2099880] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/63c886bf-c898e384-bf8e-70695a482cca/Windows_HQ/Windows_HQ.vmx opID=esxui-af74-dae4 user=root] Power on request received
2023-05-15T16:59:05.063Z verbose hostd[2099880] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/63c886bf-c898e384-bf8e-70695a482cca/Windows_HQ/Windows_HQ.vmx opID=esxui-af74-dae4 user=root] Reconfigure ethernet backing if required
2023-05-15T16:59:05.066Z info hostd[2099880] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr opID=esxui-af74-dae4 user=root] Event 3461 : Windows_HQ on localhost.localdomain in ha-datacenter is resuming
2023-05-15T16:59:05.066Z error hostd[2099880] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/63c886bf-c898e384-bf8e-70695a482cca/Windows_HQ/Windows_HQ.vmx opID=esxui-af74-dae4 user=root] Invalid transition requested (VM_STATE_EXPORTING -> VM_STATE_POWERING_ON): Invalid state

i see the Vm is stuck in Exporting state how can i clear that state and power on the VM

[hirschinho]

Have you checked if there is a process running of the vm ?

ps | grep vmname

Kill the parent process by running the command kill process_id

is it possbile to restart the ESXi Servcies - which version you are running on ?

[CallistoJag]

You can try putting the host containing the VM into maintenance mode and then restarting. Otherwise hirschinho makes a good suggestion 🙂

[jasahuja]

I already tried that but i see no process running, i am not keen on restarting the host as it is stand alone server i have to shut all the vms down and then do a reboot.
is there any other thing i can try instead of rebooting the host.

Thank you for assistance

[CallistoJag]

Try this: https://www.settlersoman.com/how-to-cancel-a-hang-task-in-vcenter-or-esxi-host/

[Lalegre]

@jasahuja,

If your VM is powered-off, try to Remove it from Inventory and then add it again to the cluster:

1. Connect to vSphere Client
2. Locate the VM that has issues
3. Right-Click, select Edit Settings, expand the VMDK, take note of the Datastore where the VM is living
4. Right-Click the VM and then Remove from Inventory.
5. Go do the Datastore View
6. Click on the Datastore, click on tab files, search for the VM Folder with the VM name, click on the .vmx file and "Register VM"
7. Complete the placement details and click "Finish"
8. Check if you can power it on.

Hope this works!

[jasahuja]

@Lalegre 

i dont have a vcenter server this is standalone ESXI, i tried unregistering the VM but it is giving me error mostly because it is stuck in Exporting state. i am unable to perform any operation on the VM.

i dont see any process running for the vm when i use command ps 

[CallistoJag]

Might have missed this, but have you and can you restart the host?

[Lalegre]

@jasahuja,

Have you tried already connecting to the ESXi over SSH and restart Management Agents: services.sh restart

[jasahuja · Accepted solution]

Thank you all for the input i guess only solution to this was to reboot the host. I was not able to put the host in maintenance mode as well so i rebooted the host without maintenance mode.