The virtual machine cannot power on because the GPU is not accessible on the host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• VM won't Power ON after a vMotion to another Host or Power outage.

  It fails with the error: "Device PCI device 0 uses backing <gpu_###-##>, which is not accessible."

• From the VM Edit settings, the vGPU cards will be unavailable as well.

  

• None of the vGPU cards are available from the ESXi host's PCI devices.

• 

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

PCI Devices are in a Disabled State, as we can see in the Manage > Hardware > PCI Devices view under the Passthrough column:

Resolution

1. Login to the ESXi host UI for the host that has the vGPU PCI Card in a disabled state installed
   
   
2. Put the host into Maintenance Mode.
   
   
3. Click on Manage. Check all the vGPU PCI Cards which need to be made active.
   
   
4. Click on Toggle passthrough.
   
   
   
   
5. Reboot that ESXi host.
   
   
6. Login to the managing vCenter Server's UI.
   
   
7. Go to Host > Configure > PCI Devices. Check whether all the respective vGPU Cards are visible.
   
   
   
8. Edit settings on the affected VMs and remove the existing PCI Cards.
   
   
9. Edit settings on the affected VMs and add New PCI Device.
   
   
10. Expand the New PCI device. Select the required options available and as per the requirement. Click OK.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Power ON the VMs.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
VMs will not Power ON until and unless the vGPU PCI is made active.