Virtual machine inventory fails to load in vSphere Client

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When attempting to log in to an ESX/ESXi host using vSphere Client, you experience these symptoms:

• The virtual machine inventory remains at the "Retrieving information" state
• The Virtual Machines tab fails to load
• When attempting to load the inventory in the client, the /var/log/vmware/hostd.log file of the ESX host contains entries similar to:

[2010-10-05 12:11:56.897 'VmMisc' 21040048 warning] Failed to find conversion from winServer2008Standard-32 to type: vim.vm.GuestOsDescriptor.GuestOsIdentifier
[2010-10-05 12:11:57.010 'VmMisc' 21040048 warning] Failed to find conversion from windows7srv-64 to type: vim.vm.GuestOsDescriptor.GuestOsIdentifier

or

[2012-02-16 17:19:37.459 'VmMisc' 21351344 warning] Failed to find conversion from winServer2008Standard-32 to type: vim.vm.GuestOsD

escriptor.GuestOsIdentifier

[2012-02-16 17:19:37.461 'ThreadPool' 21351344 panic] Worker: Unhandled exception:

Note: To view these errors, the logging for hostd must be increased to trivia. For more information, see Increasing vCenter Server and ESX logging levels (1004795).

vsphere-client-errors vsphere-client-inventory-fails

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.0.x

Resolution

This issue occurs when your ESX/ESXi host has unsupported Guest OS virtual machines running. For example, Windows 7 is not supported on ESX 3.5 Update 5 and earlier releases.

To resolve this issue, the unsupported Guest OS virtual machines must be powered off or the host must be upgraded to a version which supports the Guest OS.

To identify the virtual machines that cause this issue:

1. For ESX log in to the console of your ESX host as root using the service console
   For ESXi 3.5 and 4.0 see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677)
   For ESXi 4.1 see Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 (1017910)
   
2. Open the hostd.log file using a text editor.
   
   Note: To open the file using vi editor, run this command:
   
   # vi /var/log/vmware/hostd.log
   
   
3. Search for the word conversion within the file.
   
   Note: If you are using vi editor, type /conversion and press Enter to find the word.
   
   
4. In the line above the word conversion, you can find the path to the .vmx file of the virtual machine with an unsupported Guest OS.
5. Power off this virtual machine.
6. Repeat Steps 3 to 5 for any additional occurrences of the error.
7. Restart the management services. For more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESX or ESXi Server (1003490).
   
   For ESX, run these commands:
   
   # service mgmt-vmware restart
   
   For ESXi use this procedure:
   
   a) Connect to the console of your ESXi host.
   b) Press F2 to customize the system.
   c) Login as root.
   d) Using the Up/Down arrows navigate to Restart Management Agents.
   
   Note: This option is available under Troubleshooting Options in ESXi 4.1.
   
   e) Press Enter.
   f) Press F11 to restart the services.
   g) When the service has been restarted, press Enter.
   h) Press Esc to log out of the system.

Additional Information

Restarting the Management agents in ESXi
Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support
Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x, and ESXi 6.x