Linux virtual machine (including vCenter) fails to respond after a mounted CDROM is disconnected

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

^{When you disconnect the virtual CD/DVD drive without unmounting inside guest OS, you experience these symptoms:}

^{Linux virtual machine stops responding.}

^{vCenter server stops responding, pings to vCenter fail.}

^{When connected, vCenter server fails to find available updates on patch ISO}

^{Virtual machine does not respond until you answer the question:}

^{The guest operating system has locked the CD-ROM door and is probably using the CD-ROM, which can prevent the guest from recognizing media changes.}

^{If possible, eject the CD-ROM from inside the guest before disconnecting.}^{Disconnect anyway and override the lock?}

Example from vmware.log

VMware.log

2024-08-19T13:30:34.208Z In(05) vmx - [msg.cdromdisconnect.locked] The guest operating system has locked the CD-ROM door and i
s probably using the CD-ROM, which can prevent the guest from recognizing media changes. If possible, eject the CD-ROM from in
side the guest before disconnecting.
2024-08-19T13:30:34.208Z In(05)+ vmx -
2024-08-19T13:30:34.208Z In(05)+ vmx - Disconnect anyway and override the lock?
2024-08-19T13:30:34.208Z In(05) vmx - ----------------------------------------
2024-08-19T13:30:54.304Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Tools heartbeat timeout.
2024-08-19T13:34:34.819Z In(05) vmx - Timing out dialog 322651
2024-08-19T13:34:34.819Z In(05) vmx - MsgQuestion: msg.cdromdisconnect.locked reply=1
2024-08-19T13:34:34.820Z In(05) vmx - VigorTransport_ServerSendResponse opID=lx4cp1ps-1023236-auto-lxj9-h5:70279172-b7-01-ab-a
50d seq=5231080: Completed Disk request with messages.
2024-08-19T13:34:34.820Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Running status rpc handler: 1 => 0.
2024-08-19T13:34:34.820Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Changing running status: 1 => 0.
2024-08-19T13:34:34.820Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: [RunningStatus] Last heartbeat value 9475470 (last received 240s ago)
2024-08-19T13:34:34.827Z In(05) vmx - VigorTransportProcessClientPayload: opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-6aca3696-42fe33bd-01-01-e2-9f1
0 seq=5231098: Receiving Bootstrap.MessageReply request.
2024-08-19T13:34:34.827Z In(05) vmx - VigorTransport_ServerSendResponse opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-6aca3696-42fe33bd-01-01-e2-9f10
seq=5231098: Completed Bootstrap request.
2024-08-19T13:34:35.310Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Running status rpc handler: 0 => 1.
2024-08-19T13:34:35.310Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Changing running status: 0 => 1.
2024-08-19T13:34:35.310Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: [RunningStatus] Last heartbeat value 9475471 (last received 0s ago)
2024-08-19T13:34:35.390Z In(05) vcpu-1 - Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4123]: VMAutomationReportPowerStateChange: Reporting power state
change (opcode=2, err=0).
2024-08-19T13:34:35.390Z In(05) vcpu-1 - TOOLS Received tools.set.version rpc call, version = TOOLS_VERSION_UNMANAGED, type is
unknown
2024-08-19T13:34:35.390Z In(05) vcpu-1 - TOOLS Setting toolsVersionStatus = TOOLS_STATUS_UNMANAGED
2024-08-19T13:34:35.390Z In(05) vcpu-1 - Tools_SetVersionAndType did nothing; new tools version (2147483647) and type (0) match old Tools version and type
2024-08-19T13:34:56.249Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Guest: *** WARNING: GuestInfo collection interval longer than expected; actual=324 sec, expected=30 sec. ***

Environment

^{VMware vCenter Server 4.x}

^{VMware vCenter Server 5.x}

^{VMware vCenter Server 6.x}

^{VMware vCenter Server 7.x}

Cause

^{This is a known issue being investigated by VMware Engineering and due to be fixed in an upcoming release.}

Resolution

^{This is an expected behavior when a CD/DVD drive is locked by virtual machine.}

^{To work around this issue, use one of these options:}

^{Unmount the CD/DVD drive in the virtual machine before disconnecting.

For example, run this command for Guest OS RHEL7:

eject cdrom}

^{Add these entries to the vmx file to answer the question automatically:}

^{To force disconnect CD/DVD drive regardless of locking drive by virtual machine}

^{------------------------------------}

^{cdrom.showIsoLockWarning = "FALSE"}

^{msg.autoanswer = "TRUE"}

^{------------------------------------}

^{Note: For more information, see Tips for editing a .vmx file (1714).}

Additional Information

^{For vCenter Server run this following command}

^{eject /dev/cdrom before unmount the CD/DVD}