Error removing vmdk from a VM: "Invalid configuration for device '0'"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to remove a hard disk from the virtual machine, an error message stating “Invalid configuration” is encountered.

The error indicates that one of the parent disks is included in a snapshot of the virtual machine.

"Invalid configuration for device '0'. Cannot remove virtual disk from the virtual machine because it or one of its parent disks is part of a snapshot of the virtual machine"

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

The affected VM will reference the snapshot vmdk.

It's a recognized issue that a snapshot VMDK cannot be deleted without consolidation if one or more of its parent disks are included in the virtual machine's snapshot.

Resolution

First, we need to consolidate the snapshots of the virtual machine.

Consolidation integrates the changes between snapshots and the previous delta disks into the base parent disk, merging them with the base virtual machine disk.

Once the consolidation is complete, we will be able to successfully remove the disk from the virtual machine.

Additional Information

You may came across similar below error when you try to remove the disk from backup proxy server for disk consolidation issue. 

   "Invalid configuration for device '0'. Cannot remove virtual disk from the virtual machine because it or one of its parent disks is part of a snapshot of the virtual machine"

As workaround you can follow the below steps: 

• PowerOff the Proxy server then try to consolidate the disk.
• After disk consolidated went successful remove the affected VM disk from backup proxy server.