VM with snapshots fails to power-on or consolidate with the error: The specified feature is not supported by this version (f532)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• VM with snapshots on VMFS-6 datastore fails to power-on with error: "The specified feature is not supported by this version"
• VM with snapshots on VMFS-6 datastore fails to consolidate with error "Failed to lock the disk." but no lock is held on the disk specified.
• VM backup with snapshots on VMFS-6 datastore fails with the error "Failed to lock Virtual Machine for backup." but no lock is held on the disk specified.

 

•  vmware.log  

2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DiskLib_IsVMFSSparseSupported: vmfssparse is not supported on /vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>: f532.

2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-VMFS_SPARSE : Failed to open vmfssparse disk /vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>/"<VM name>-000003-delta.vmdk": The specified feature is not supported by this version (24).
2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-LINK : "/vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>/<VM name>-000003.vmdk" : failed to open (The specified feature is not supported by this version).
2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-CHAIN : "/vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>/<VM name>-000003.vmdk" : failed to open (The specified feature is not supported by this version).
2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DISKLIB-LIB : Failed to open '/vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>/<VM name>-000003.vmdk' with flags 0xa The specified feature is not supported by this version (24).
2017-04-18T13:05:39.208Z| vmx| I125: DISK: Cannot open disk '/vmfs/volumes/#8#3#4#7-########-####-e#b#d#9#6#5#/<VM name>/<VM name>-000003.vmdk': The specified feature is not supported by this version (24).

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vSphere

Cause

This behavior can be observed when a VM, with snapshots taken on a VMFS-5 datastore, are moved or copied manually to a VMFS-6.

This issue occurs as the snapshot format on VMFS-5 is different than on VMFS6.
See topic vSphere VMFS Datastore Concepts and Operations

Resolution

1. Find VMFS-5 Storage in your environment and attach it to the ESXi host, if not already available. You can use a host local disk, if it has enough space.
2. Copy the VM or use Storage vMotion where possible, to migrate the VM to the VMFS-5 volume (you can change the virtual disk format to thin provisioned to save space and time during this action).
3. Consolidate snapshots, if any.
4. Power-off the VM.
5. Unregister the VM from inventory.
6. Move all VM files back to the VMFS-6 volume using the CLI (“mv /vmfs5-LUN/MyVM /vmfs/volumes/vmfs6-volume/MyVM”) or the Datastore browser in vCenter.
7. Register the VM again
8. Power-on the VM
9. Now you can perform another Storage vMotion to change the disk format, if required.

Additional Information

See vSphere documentation vSphere VMFS Datastore Concepts and Operations

Impact/Risks:
VM in question will experience downtime as it needs to be shut-down to remediate the issue.