Creating Snapshot fails with the error: Operation Failed! "The Operation is not allowed in the current state".

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When we try to create Snapshot it fails with the error: Operation Failed! "The Operation is not allowed in the current state".

Cause

It is generally not possible to take a snapshot of a virtual machine (VM) that utilizes PCI pass-through or vGPU (virtual GPU) due to the nature of these configurations. PCI pass-through provides a direct connection to the physical hardware, while vGPU allows for a shared GPU experience, neither of which are designed to be snapshotted. 

Resolution

VM which is configured with PCI pass-through or vGPU (virtual GPU) does not support Snapshot.

To backup VM's without triggering Snapshots from Backup Application, request you to engage the Backup Vendor. 

Additional Information

It is possible to take a powered-off snapshot of a virtual machine (VM) with vGPU enabled; however, errors are encountered under certain conditions:

Errors Observed:

• When VM is powered on:

  "The operation is not allowed in the current state."

• When VM is powered off:

  "An error occurred while taking a snapshot: Invalid change tracker error code."

Actions Taken:

• Identify if Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is enabled on the VM.

• Removed the following CBT-related entries from the VM's .vmx file or set it to False

   

  SCSI0:0.ctkEnabled = "TRUE"

  SCSI0:1.ctkEnabled = "TRUE"

  ctkEnabled = "TRUE"

• Perform a power cycle of the VM.

• After applying these changes, snapshot creation should work.