Migration or Power Off options grayed out for a VM in vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms :

• The 'Migrate' & 'Power Off' options are unavailable (grayed out) in the vCenter Server for a VM.
  
  
  
  OR
  
  
• A migration initiated in vCenter failed with the error: "Cannot relocate VM_Name because the action is disabled in vCenter"
  
  

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

The cause is attributed to orphaned records within the "VPX_DISABLED_METHODS" table. This table is utilized by vCenter to restrict virtual machine migrations during active operations e.g. Virtual Machine Backup . If an operation experiences a fault or does not complete gracefully, these restrictive database entries may persist indefinitely, locking the VM and requiring manual remediation.

 

 

 

Resolution

From vCenter UI:

1. Starting from vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3, In the vSphere Client under Virtual Machine > Configure > Disabled Methods, Administrator should remove restrictions on virtual machine operations such as migration.
   
   
2. Click on "Enable" option Below Disabled Methods.

 

 

Manually remove entries from the vCenter Mob:

1. Identify the VM's MOB ID
   1. Open a web browser to the vCenter Server's Flex (Flash) or vSphere Client (HTML5)
   2. In the left hand side inventory, select the affected VM's object
   3. With the VM selected and highlighted, in the URL bar, review the string and look for "VirtualMachine:vm-xx"

Example:

https://ExamplevCenterFQDNorIP/ui/#?extensionId=vsphere.core.vm.summary&objectId=urn:vmomi:VirtualMachine:vm-141:########-####-####-####-############&navigator=vsphere.core.viTree.hostsAndClustersView

In this example VM's MOB ID is vm-141.

2. ​​​​​​Access the Virtual Machine Operations by opening a web browser to: 

https://ExamplevCenterFQDNorIP/mob/?moid=AuthorizationManager&method=enableMethods

3. Login with [e-mail] or an SSO admin user.

For example: [email protected]

4. The below page will appear:

5. In the first parameter entity value box, replace MOID with the VM's MOB ID

For example:

<!-- array start -->
<entity type="ManagedEntity" xsi:type="ManagedObjectReference">vm-141</entity>
<!-- array end -->

6. In the second parameter entity value box, enter this command:

<method>RelocateVM_Task</method>


 

7. Click on Invoke Method

8. Refresh the vCenter Server web client and the migration option for the VM should now be available. If the issues persist:

• If not yet available, restart the Web Client service or all vCenter Server services. For more information, see Stopping, Starting or Restarting VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.x & above services
• If the issues persists, see Migrate option is grayed out on a powered-off virtual machine

Additional Information

Reference KB: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2008957

                        https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/335225/migrate-option-is-grayed-out-on-a-powere.html