Storage vMotion fails with the error: Storage vMotion failed to copy one or more of the virtual machine's disks
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Storage vMotion fails with the error: Storage vMotion failed to copy one or more of the virtual machine's disks

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Article ID: 311179

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Cannot migrate a virtual machine using Storage vMotion
  • Storage migration of a virtual machine fails
  • You see this error:

    A general system error occurred: Storage vMotion failed to copy one or more of the VM's disks. Please consult the VM's log for more details, looking for lines starting with "CBTMotion".

  • In the logs of the affected virtual machine, you see entries similar to these:

    Nov 12 18:15:01.079: Worker#0| CBTMotion: scsi0:1: Clone: failed to start block tracking session on source disk: Change tracking is not active for this disk.
    Nov 12 18:15:01.080: Worker#0| CBTMotion: scsi0:1: failed to clone disk from /vmfs/volumes/UUID/vmname.vmdk to /vmfs/volumes/UUID/vmname.vmdk.
    Nov 12 18:15:01.080: Worker#0| CBTMotion: disk clone failed, aborting Storage VMotion.
    Nov 12 18:15:01.080: Worker#0| Msg_Post: Error
    Nov 12 18:15:01.080: Worker#0| [msg.cbtmotion.disk.clone.failed] Disk clone failed. Canceling Storage vMotion.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable

Resolution

To resolve this issue, create a snapshot of the affected virtual machine and then commit the snapshot.
To create and commit the snapshot:
  1. In the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine.
  2. Click Snapshot > Take Snapshot.
  3. In the vSphere Client right-click the virtual machine.
  4. Click Snapshot > Snapshot Manager.
  5. Select the snapshot you created in Step 1.
  6. Click Delete.


Additional Information