"A general system error occurred: Exceeded the maximum number of permitted snapshots" error when creating a virtual machine snapshot

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• You cannot create a virtual machine snapshot.
• Creating a virtual machine snapshot fails.
• Unable to take a snapshot of the virtual machine.
• You see this error similar to:
  
  A general system error occurred: Exceeded the maximum number of permitted snapshots.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

This issue occurs if the snapshot.maxSnapshots parameter is specified for the virtual machine.

To resolve this issue:

1. Power down the virtual machine.
2. Right-click the virtual machine in the Web Client and click Edit Settings.
3. Click the VM Options tab, under Advanced, select the Edit Configuration option.
4. Search for a string name called snapshot.maxSnapshots and increase its value.
5. Click OK to save the changes.
6. Power on the virtual machine and create the required snapshot.

Caution: Only modify the snapshot.maxSnapshots parameter with the guidance of VMware technical support. Increasing the number of allowed snapshots beyond the maximum value of 32 is not supported.
 

Notes:

• If the snapshot.maxSnapshots value is not present, you may manually enter this configuration setting. In vSphere 6.7.x and 7.0.x, the setting is not listed by default.
• To disallow snapshots, set the snapshot.maxSnapshots value to 0.
• Snapshots of NSX-T appliances are not supported and this value should remain at 0 for these appliances, for reference please review the NSX-T install guide.