Performance issues for VMs with Windows 10 version 1809 or newer running on snapshots

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Virtual machines running Windows 10 build 1809 or newer with Snapshots running on VMFS6 take a long time to start in ESXi 6.5 and 6.7
VMs without snapshots are not affected.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

A fix for this issue has been released in vSphere 6.5 Update 3 and vSphere 6.7 Update 3

If you are not able to update to these vSphere versions, consider one of the following workarounds:

1. Use NFS Datastores for virtual disks connected to Windows 10 build 1809 VMs or newer, which are larger than 2 TB
2. Use Windows 10 builds older than 1809 (e.g. 1803 or 1709)
3. Do not keep snapshots for virtual machines running Windows 10 build 1809 or newer

Note: Keep in mind that virtual machine snapshots are not providing the full functionality of a real backup. VMware does not recommend running virtual machines using snapshots for longer amounts of time.

Additional Information

Note: The issue is caused using SEsparse disk format with Windows 1809. 
Linked Clones use SEspares disk format by default also on VMFS5. Using an older Windows 10 (1803 or 1709) could be a workaround for those environments.