Snapshot consolidation for a virtual machine with multiple snapshots might fail with a "GenericVmConfigFault
[root@hostname:~] vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.removeall 3
Remove All Snapshots:
Remove all snapshots failed: (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
faultMessage = <unset>,
reason = "Fault cause: vim.fault.GenericVmConfigFault"
msg = "A general system error occurred: Fault cause: vim.fault.GenericVmConfigFault.
vSphere 7.0.x
vSphere 8.0.x
This issue can occur when one of the snapshot state files in defect or corrupted
To solve this issue, you can apply the following steps:
# esxcli vm process list
# find /vmfs/volumes -iname <vm_name>.vmx
# cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<folder_name>/<vm_name>.vmx
# mkdir ./vm_snapshot_temp
# mv *.vmsn ./vm_snapshot_temp/
# vm *.vmsd ./vm_snapshot_temp/
Note: Post moving the VMSN and the VMSD, we can also re register the VM and click on remove all snapshots to delete all the snapshots.