Removing a virtual machine folder from inventory deletes the virtual machines within it from disk when using the vSphere HTML5 Client

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When using the vSphere HTML5 Client to right click a VM folder and select 'Remove from Inventory', virtual machines in the folder are permanently deleted from disk.
• Unregistering individual virtual machines within a folder continues to work as expected and all files are preserved. 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x

Cause

This is a known issue affecting the vSphere HTML5 Client for vCenter Server 6.5 & 6.7.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in the below vCenter  Server versions:

• vCenter Server  6.5 Update 3 and later
• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1b and later 

Workaround:

To workaround this issue. virtual machines must be removed from inventory individually when using the vSphere HTML5 Client.
Alternatively, use the vSphere Web Client (Flex) for unregistering all virtual machines in a VM folder.