Error: “Could not initialize plugin '/usr/lib64/vmware/plugin/libnvidia-vgx.so' for vGPU "profile_name" and unable to power on Virtual machine when GPU profile is attached
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Error: “Could not initialize plugin '/usr/lib64/vmware/plugin/libnvidia-vgx.so' for vGPU "profile_name" and unable to power on Virtual machine when GPU profile is attached

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Article ID: 321995

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Updated On: 05-28-2025

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

  • Unable to power on the virtual machine using NVIDIA graphics card.
  • When trying to power on Virtual machine from vCenter UI you see a message similar to:
    Getting the following error: Disconnected from virtual machine. Remote connection failure Failed to establish transport connection


  • In the VMware.log you may see the below mentioned error message



Environment

  • VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

Cause

ECC memory is enabled by default. NVIDIA vGPU does not support ECC memory. If ECC memory is enabled, NVIDIA vGPU fails to start.

Resolution

1. Ensure that ECC memory is disabled on all GPUs if you are using NVIDIA vGPU.
     • To check whether the ECC is enabled or not, run the command:

        nvidia-smi -q


2. If ECC is enabled, then disable ECC.
     a. Put your host in maintenance mode.
     b. Start an SSH session to your ESX host and apply the following commands:
          1. /etc/init.d/xorg stop
          2. nv-hostengine -t
          3. nv-hostengine -d
          4. /etc/init.d/xorg start
          5. nvidia-smi -e 0
          6. reboot

Additional Information

If in the customer vSphere environment, multiple ESXi hosts have graphics cards  and one has has ECC disabled, vMotion with vGPUs will fail.
For more information, see vMotion with vGPU failed on "Insufficient resources" during compatibility check