Taking a quiesce snapshot of Windows VM causes the event 15: The device, \Device\HarddiskX\DRXX, is not ready for access yet.
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Article ID: 323103
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Updated On:
Products
VMware vSphere ESXi
Issue/Introduction
Symptoms:
The Event log of the Windows virtual machine guest operating system shows the error:
Event Type: Error Event Source: Disk Event Category: None Event ID: 15 Date: 7/8/2021 Time: 3:33:08 AM User: N/A Computer: W2016-VM1 Description: The device, \Device\Harddisk3\DR9, is not ready for access yet.
The snapshot task completes with success.
Event ID 15, occurs after the Event ID 157.
In the vmware.log, you see log entries similar to:
2021-07-08T03:33:07.673Z| vcpu-2| I125: ToolsBackup: hot removing disk W2016_1-000008.vmdk from node scsi0:3. 2021-07-08T03:33:07.880Z| vcpu-2| I125: ToolsBackup: hot removing disk W2016-000008.vmdk from node scsi0:2.
Notes: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.
In current design of "VMware Snapshot Provider", the snapshot disks are hot-removed without prompt notification to the Windows OS, this will cause the device to be unexpectedly removed without notifying the guest OS, which causes the device to not be accessible (event 15).
When quiesced snapshot process begin, VMware snapshot provider hot-adds the writable snapshot disks (shadow copy volume disks); When quiesced snapshot process ends, VMware snapshot provider hot-removes the writable snapshot disks (shadow copy volume disks), then event15 is generated for "writable snapshot disk" because the writable snapshot disks are removed forcibly from Windows perspective.
Resolution
There is no fix, at the moment, but VMware engineering is investigating.
Workaround: None. The Event ID 15 and Event ID 147 can be safety ignored after taking a quiescing snapshot.
Additional Information
Impact/Risks: None.
For VSS snapshot process, the snapshot disk data is consistent when it comes to the stage of hot-removing snapshot disks. The event error is benign and can be safely ignored.