Reverting a Windows virtual machine to the latest snapshot fails with the error: The object or item referred to could not be found on Windows virtual machines with quiesce option selected

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• VMware Tools is installed in the Windows virtual machine.
• Cannot revert to latest snapshot in Windows virtual machines with Quiesce guest file system selected and Snapshot virtual machine's memory not selected.
• Reverting to latest snapshot fails with the error:
  
  The object or item referred to could not be found
  
• The hostd.log file, located at /var/log/, contains entries similar to:
  
  <YYYY-MM-DD><time>[32D80B70 verbose 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/ virtual_machine.vmx' opID=321E18C2-00008D35-8e-f6 user=vpxuser] Create Snapshot: S1, memory=false, quiescent=true state=4
  </time><YYYY-MM-DD><time> [32D80B70 info 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/ virtual_machine.vmx' opID=321E18C2-00008D35-8e-f6 user=vpxuser] State Transition (VM_STATE_ON -> VM_STATE_CREATE_SNAPSHOT)
  </time>...
  <YYYY-MM-DD><time> [FFD40B70 verbose 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/ virtual_machine.vmx'] Snapshot tree has no current.
  </time><YYYY-MM-DD><time> [FFD40B70 verbose 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/virtual_machine.vmx'] Time to gather Snapshot information ( read from disk, build tree): 322 msecs. needConsolidate is false.
  </time><YYYY-MM-DD><time> [FFD40B70 error 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/ virtual_machine.vmx'] Failed to resolve suspend file 'virtual_machine#.vmsn' search '.', it will be skipped from vm file layout
  </time><YYYY-MM-DD><time> [FFD40B70 verbose 'Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual_machine_folder/ virtual_machine.vmx'] Time to gather config: 39 (msecs)</time>

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Cause

This issue occurs due to the changes that are introduced in writable snapshots on ESXi 5.1 and later. The snapshot.current property in the snapshot information of the virtual machine (.vmsd) is not updated when a snapshot is created.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, revert to the latest snapshot from the Snapshot Manager.

To revert to the newly created snapshot:

1. Connect to vCenter Server or the ESXi host with the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and select Snapshot > Snapshot Manager.
3. Select the latest snapshot that has the Quiesce guest file system selected and Snapshot virtual machine's memory not selected.
4. Select the Goto option. This reverts to the latest snapshot.