An unrelated datastore is listed at "Related Objects" tile in virtual machine summary tab.

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article describes some scenarios where datastores that don't seem to be related to the virtual machine are listed in summary tab.

Note:
Please note that this article only covers a few cases of the many possible patterns.

Symptoms

vSphere Client summary shows two or more datastores, although the virtual machine resides in a single datastore.
In these example image, user created the virtual machine on datastore1, but datastore2, which doesn't seem to be related is also being shown in Related Objects tile, or in Datastores tab.

Checking the Edit Settings window, none of the virtual disks are stored on the datastore in question. In the example shown in the image below, the disks exist only on datastore1, yet datastore2 still appears in the summary tab.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi, VMware vCenter Server

Cause

This is because the virtual machine still has a reference to the datastore. The datastore might seem unrelated to the virtual machine, but if a datastore is listed under Related Object tile, it suggests that the virtual machine internally holds a reference to the datastore. If you don't want the datastore to appear, you'll need to identify the references and remove it.

Resolution

Scenario 1: An ISO image on the unrelated datastore is connected to the virtual machine.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
In the Edit Settings window, expand CD/DVD drive.
Check if any media is connected to the virtual machine.
In this example, an ISO media from datastore2 is connected to the virtual machine.
If a Datastore ISO File or a Content Library ISO File is connected and it's located on the datastore in question, proceed with the following steps.
From CD/DVD drive dropdown menu, select an option other than Datastore ISO File or Content Library ISO File. Any option is fine - for example, select Client Device.
Click OK and close the window.
After that, check whether the datastore has disappeared from the summary tab.

Note: If a Datastore ISO File or Content Library ISO File is selected, simply unchecking Connected is NOT sufficient. Even if the ISO image is not connected state, the virtual machine still remains linked to the datastore. To completely remove this association, please select the other options like Client Device.

Scenario 2: A snapshot holds an references to the datastore.

You may observe the following situations:

None of the virtual disks are stored on the datastore in question.
The CD/DVD drive is not using a Datastore ISO File or Content Library ISO File. (As described in scenario 1.)
The virtual machine has one or more snapshots.

In this case, a snapshot may be still retaining a reference to the datastore. To check if you are facing this problem, delete the snapshot as follows:

Right-click the virtual machine and navigate to Snapshots > Delete All Snapshots...
In the confirmation window, click DELETE ALL.
Note: All snapshots you have created will be deleted and consolidated into a single disk.
Once the snapshots have been removed, check if the datastore no longer appears under Related Objects.

Scenario 3: Other virtual devices in the VM are pointing the unrelated datastores.

If neither scenario 1 nor 2 applies to you, check the VM's configuration file to find any references to the datastores.

Please make sure that no ISO image is connected and the VM does not have any snapshots.
Connect to the host via SSH.
If the virtual machine is powered on state, make sure to connect to the host where the virtual machine is currently running.
Navigate to the virtual machine's directory.
Command example:
```
cd /vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE_NAME]/[VM_NAME]
```
Search the VM's config file for references to other datastores.
Command example:
```
grep "/vmfs/volumes" [VM_NAME].vmx
```
Here's an example output. Note that IDs and names may vary depending on environment:
```
[root@esxi:/vmfs/volumes/00000000-00000000/example-vm] grep /vmfs/volumes example-vm.vmx
serial0.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/00000000-00000001/downloads/example-vm-port"
sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/00000000-00000000/example-vm/example-vm-XXXXXXXX.vswp"
```
This output indicates that the VM resides in datastore with ID 00000000-00000000, and has a reference to datastore with the ID 00000000-00000001.

To check with datastore corresponds to that ID, run the following command:

localcli storage filesystem list --uuid [DATASTORE_ID]

Here's an example of command output:

[root@esxi:/vmfs/volumes/00000000-00000000/example-vm] localcli storage filesystem list --uuid 00000000-00000001
Mount Point                      Volume Name  UUID               Mounted  Type  Size            Free
-------------------------------  -----------  -----------------  -------  ----  --------------  --------------
/vmfs/volumes/00000000-00000001  datastore2   00000000-00000001  true     NFS   70368744177664  70368744177664

This shows that the datastore ID 00000000-00000001 corresponds to datastore2.
From this, you can identify that serial port file is linked to datastore2.

Remove the device via Edit Settings.
In the above example, click the menu next to Serial Port 1 and select Remove Device.
Note: Before removing the device, make sure it is no longer needed. Some devices may need to be disconnected when the virtual machines is powered off.
Click OK to close the Edit Settings window.
Finally, check if the datastore no longer appears under Related Objects in summary tab.