Unable to power on the VM with error 'Some of the disks of the virtual machine <VM_name> failed to load'

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Virtual Machines not powering on after reboot. Upon powering on, we get the below error:

Some of the disks of the virtual machine <VM_name> failed to load. The information present for them in the virtual machine configuration may be incomplete 

The VM has RDMs connected and those RDM devices show vmdk path instead of the VML ID on checking in Edit Settings.

The device does not show any partition details:

Environment

vCenter Server 7.x

vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This error will appear when the connectivity to the RDM devices have been impacted.

In this case, the RDM devices were detached from the ESXi host, holding the VM.

The vobd logs will show messages similar to below:

2025-03-20T23:24:12.625Z cpu49:2105177 opID=979402a7)WARNING: RDM3: 852: Error opening device vml.0200060000xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx000000364f50454e2d56: No such target on adapter
2025-03-20T23:24:12.625Z cpu49:2105177 opID=979402a7)WARNING: RDM3: 852: Error opening device vml.0200060000xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx000000374f50454e2d56: No such target on adapter

2025-03-20T09:38:09.870Z: [scsiCorrelator] 17967025098243us: [vob.scsi.device.state.off] Device naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx00000036  has been turned off administratively.
2025-03-20T09:38:09.870Z: [scsiCorrelator] 17967687716145us: [esx.problem.scsi.device.state.off] Device: naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx00000036  has been turned off administratively
2025-03-20T09:38:35.050Z: [scsiCorrelator] 17967050277044us: [vob.scsi.device.state.off] Device naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx00000037 has been turned off administratively.
2025-03-20T09:38:35.050Z: [scsiCorrelator] 17967712895762us: [esx.problem.scsi.device.state.off] Device: naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx00000037  has been turned off administratively

Resolution

Fix the connectivity issues between the LUN and the ESXI host having the VM on it.

In case where the LUN has been detached, attach the RDM LUN back to the ESXi host by clicking the attach button under storage devices:

After attaching the RDM device, the VM will power on without issues.