VM showing as "Invalid" in vCenter and unable to power on

Products

• VMware vSAN
• VMware vCloud Director 5.x
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• VM shows as invalid in vCenter
• VM is in powered OFF state and unable to power ON from vCenter as well as vCloud Director.
• There is no lock on the VM files.
• Datastore having the VM is having no errors or issue.
• We see VM-Name.vmx~ file, in the VM folder /vmfs/volumes/datastore-UUID/VM-Name.

Environment

vCenter Server (All Versions)

vCloud Director

Cause

A stale temporary .vmx file contains outdated state information, showing a VM as 'Powered On' despite it being 'Powered Off.' This inconsistency is usually caused by an improper shutdown that leaves residual temporary files behind.

Resolution

• Unregister the VM from vCenter and re-register.
  Virtual machines appear as invalid or orphaned or inaccessible in vCenter Server
• If above still shows the VM in invalid state then follow the below steps:
  
  • Navigate to the VM folder by taking an SSH to the ESXI host on which the VM resides:
    cd  /vmfs/volumes/datastore-UUID/VM-Name
  • Create a temporary directory - temp:
    mkdir temp
  • Move the VM-Name.vmx~ file to temporary directory:
    mv VM-Name.vmx~ temp
  • Remove the VM from Host inventory and re-register the VM to the Host inventory.
  • Power ON the VM.