"File system specific implementation of Ioctl[file] failed" error powering on a virtual machine
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"File system specific implementation of Ioctl[file] failed" error powering on a virtual machine

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Article ID: 315368

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Provide information to troubleshoot and fix VM won't power on with the error.

Symptoms:
Virtual machine (VM) will not power on with the error.
File system specific implementation of Ioctl[file] failed Failed to start the virtual machine. Module 'Disk' power on failed. Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/vm file path/vmname.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

Environment

VMware vSphere 6.x
VMware vSphere 7.x
VMware vSphere 8.x

Cause

The File system specific implementation of Ioctl[file] failed error can be caused by:
  • Bad entries in virtual disk descriptor files (*.vmdk, *.vmx)
  • Communication problems between ESXi host and storage array
  • ESXi OS problems
  • Problems with file locks
  • Virtual disk data corruption

Resolution

To resolve this issues, resolve the following possible issues:

Check for VM sharing disks with other VMs

  1. Determine which virtual disk files are being used by the VM:
    1. Connect to the command line for the host managing the VM via SSH or via ESXi Shell.
    2. Get the names of the virtual disk files currently attached to the VM per Using the ESXi command line to find the virtual machine file path and virtual disk information
  2. Follow Verify if a VMDK is attached to any virtual machine or template
  3. If the VM has disks attached to other VMs:
    1. Ensure the configuration of the VM and shared virtual disk is correct per Enabling or disabling simultaneous write protection provided by VMFS using the multi-writer flag
    2. For Microsoft Cluster VMs please ensure VM and virtual disk configuration is set up correctly per About Setup for Windows Server Failover Clustering on VMware vSphere
    3. In some cases you may need to vMotion the affected VM to the host where the other VM resides to overcome file lock problems

Check for VM file locks

Check for incorrect VM virtual disk data file sizes

  1. Connect to the command line for the host managing the VM via SSH or via ESXi Shell.
  2. Get the names of the virtual disk files currently attached to the VM per Using the ESXi command line to find the virtual machine file path and virtual disk information
  3. Compare the sizes of the virtual disk data files (*-flat.vmdk) to the last known correct sizes of the file
    1. Example: You know from experience, or from looking at backup files, that a virtual disk should be 700 GB but it is showing as 400 KB.
    2. If the file is suspect, either
      1. Rebuild the virtual disk
      2. Restore the virtual disk from backup

Check for missing VM virtual disk files (*.vmdk)

Check for bad data in VM virtual disk characteristics file (*.vmdk)

  1. Determine which virtual disk files are being used by the VM:
    1. Connect to the command line for the host managing the VM via SSH or via ESXi Shell.
    2. Get the names of the virtual disk files currently attached to the VM per Using the ESXi command line to find the virtual machine file path and virtual disk information
    3. For any virtual characteristics file (*.vmdk), run the command, replace the type in italics with the vmdk file name:
cat vmdk_file_name
Note: Do not try to run this on *-flat.vmdk files, as those are the actual binary data files
Listing may look something like:
 

Check for vSAN cluster problems

If your VM is on a vSAN cluster you need to check the health of the objects related to the VM
See how to Check Virtual SAN Health
Also see vSAN Health Check Information for additional links including troubleshooting information

Check for snapshot virtual disk problems

Check for cancelled or interrupted snapshot virtual disk consolidation

Check for bad data in VM descriptor file (*.vmx)

  1. Connect to the command line for the host managing the VM via SSH or via ESXi Shell.
  2. Get the names of the virtual disk files currently attached to the VM per Using the ESXi command line to find the virtual machine file path and virtual disk information
  3. If any of the virtual disk files listed look incorrect:
    1. Make a backup of the VM descriptor file, using the following command, where the text in italic is replaced by the name of the VM:
cp vm_name.vmx vm_name.vmx.bak
  1. Re-create the descriptor file by following Recreate a lost or deleted virtual machine .vmx configuration file on an ESXi host
Note: This procedure can also be followed if no other steps resolve the issue as sometimes the corruption in the *.vmx file is more subtle than bad vmdk links.

Check for lost VM process control

Despite the VM appearing to be powered off, the ESXi host can have lost control of processes related to the VM, preventing it from powering back on.
Follow Unable to Power off a Virtual Machine in an ESXi host

Check for storage array errors

  1. Check the vCenter or ESXi user interface for errors related to the datastore the VM is on
  2. Connect to the command line for the host managing the VM via SSH or via ESXi Shell.
  3. Get the names of the virtual disk files currently attached to the VM per Using the ESXi command line to find the virtual machine file path and virtual disk information
  4. If there are any input/output errors, or I/O errors, reported on the command line, please check the storage array for problems. You may need to contact your array vendor for further diagnosis and troubleshooting.
  5. Check the ESXi logs for further critical storage array errors per Storage vMotion fails with error "Failed to copy one or more disks"


Additional Information

 



Impact/Risks:

  • Reconfiguring a VM to different virtual disks can cause data loss.
  • Restarting management agents can cause vMotion to to be unavailable.



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