Creating a quiesced snapshot in Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 fails with the error: Snapshot guest failed

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You cannot create a quiesced snapshot in Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2.
• Attempting to backup or create a manual snapshot using the Quiesce guest file system option fails.
• You see the error:
  
  Snapshot guest failed: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.
  
  
• The /var/log/vmware.log file contains entries similar to:
  
  YYYY-08-08T11:48:05.942Z| vcpu-0| SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotComplete done with snapshot 'Test2': 9
  YYYY-08-08T11:48:05.942Z| vcpu-0| SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotComplete: Snapshot 9 failed: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine. (40).
  
  
• The /var/log/hostd.log file contains entries similar to:
  
  YYYY-08-08T11:31:23.530Z [238B3B90 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4d343ec0-b343f05f-79c4-002655db062e/WDELUH4295350/WDELUH4295350.vmx' opID=96428038-0000031F-fc] Snapshot guest failed: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.
  YYYY-08-08T11:31:23.531Z [238B3B90 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4d343ec0-b343f05f-79c4-002655db062e/WDELUH4295350/WDELUH4295350.vmx' opID=96428038-0000031F-fc] Snapshot guest failed: Error: (13023) Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.
  YYYY-08-08T11:31:23.531Z [238B3B90 info 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4d343ec0-b343f05f-79c4-002655db062e/WDELUH4295350/WDELUH4295350.vmx' opID=96428038-0000031F-fc] Quiesced guest snapshot failed.
  
  
• The /var/log/vpxa.log file contains entries similar to:
  
  YYYY-08-08T11:31:23.682Z [FFE3DB90 info 'Default' opID=96428038-0000031F-fc] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-11629 -- -- vpxapi.VpxaService.createSnapshot: vim.fault.ApplicationQuiesceFault:
  --> Result:
  --> (vim.fault.ApplicationQuiesceFault) {
  --> dynamicType = <unset>,
  --> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  --> msg = "An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine. See the virtual machine's event log for details.",
  --> }
  --> Args:
  -->
  --> Arg vmid:
  --> 8
  --> Arg name:
  --> "test"
  --> Arg description:
  --> ""
  --> Arg memory:
  --> false
  --> Arg quiesce:
  --> true
  
  
• In the Windows Event Viewer, you see an error similar to:
  
  Event Id 12289
  
  Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error DeviceIoControl(\\?\fdc#generic_floppy_drive#6&3b4c39bd&0&0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} - 00000000000004D4,0x00560000,0000000000000000,0,000000000035FFD0,4096,[0]). hr = 0x80070001, Incorrect function.
  
  
  Operation:
  Exposing Recovered Volumes
  Locating shadow-copy LUNs
  PostSnapshot Event
  Executing Asynchronous Operation
  
  Context:
  Device: \\?\fdc#generic_floppy_drive#6&3b4c39bd&0&0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
  Examining Detected Volume: Existing - \\?\fdc#generic_floppy_drive#6&3b4c39bd&0&0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
  Execution Context: Provider
  Provider Name: VMware Snapshot Provider
  Provider Version: 1.0.0
  Provider ID: {564d7761-7265-2056-5353-2050726f7669}
  Current State: DoSnapshotSet

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Cause

This issue occurs with a Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 virtual machine because the snapshot.redoNotWithParent parameter is set to true in the VM_name.vmx configuration file.

Note: In ESXi 5, the snapshot.redoNotWithParent parameter is by default set to true.

When this parameter is set to true, snapshots are directed to the location set by the working directory. For more information, see Changing the location of snapshot delta files for virtual machines in ESXi 5.x (2007563).

Resolution

The issue is fixed in 5.0 Update 2. For more Information, VMware release notes.

To work around this issue:

• Using the vSphere Client:

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Click General > Configuration parameters.
5. Set the snapshot.redoNotWithParent parameter to false. This ensures that the snapshots are stored in the same location as the virtual machine configuration files.
   
   Note: Alternatively, you can also set the disk.enableUUID parameter to false . In this case, snapshot files continue to be directed to the working directory location. It disables support for application quiesced snapshots, but the operating system continues to be quiesced.
   
   For more information, see Enabling and disabling Windows 2008 application-consistent quiescing on ESXi/ESX (1028881).
   
   
6. Verify if the changes are applied.
7. Power on the virtual machine.

• Using the vSphere Web Client:

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Select Advanced, then click on Edit Configuration.
5. Click Add Row.
6. Enter the parameter name snapshot.redoNotWithParent, and set the value to false.
7. Verify if the changes are applied.
8. Power on the virtual machine.
   

Additional Information

To be alerted when this document is updated, click the Subscribe to Article link in the Actions box
Enabling and disabling Windows 2008 and later application-consistent quiescing on ESXi/ESX
Changing the location of snapshot delta files for virtual machines in ESXi 5.x
Windows 2008 または Windows 2008 R2 で静止スナップショットを作成しようとすると、「Snapshot guest failed」エラーが発生して失敗する
在 Windows 2008 和 Windows 2008 R2 中创建静默快照失败，并显示以下错误：快照客户机失败