This issue typically indicates that the virtual machine's VMX file is corrupted and must be recreated.
To recreate the VMX file:
- If you can, right click the Virtual Machine and click Edit Settings... to see the current configuration for the Virtual Machine for reference.
- While connected to vCenter Server, right click on a cluster or host and click New Virtual Machine...
- When the Create New Virtual Machine wizard is displayed choose Custom and click Next.
- Continue with the wizard tasks setting the configurations for the new virtual machine to match the original virtual machine's configuration. If possible, use Step 1's configuration references.
- When the wizard asks you to Select a disk, select Use an existing virtual disk.
- Click Browse and navigate to the datastore where the .vmdk or .vmdks that the original virtual machine was using before the issue.
- Complete the configuration steps then click Finish.
- Power on the new virtual machine and ensure it is working as expected.
Note: The virtual disks for the new virtual machine are still located in the original virtual machine's storage location (directories/datastores) and have the same former names. You can consolidate these and rename the disks by doing a Storage vMotion or by cold migrating the virtual machine to a different datastore. Do not attempt to manually rename them or move them through the GUI as this can cause corruption or data loss to the original virtual disk files.