Unable to delete leftover VM files from Datastore due to file lock issues

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Deleting VM files that aren't attached to any VM from the datastore fails with file lock errors.

Resolution

• Connect to any of the ESXi hosts connected to the datastore with the locked files via SSH session.
• Find the IP address of the host holding the lock by running vmfsfilelockinfo on the VM file for example: VMDK flat, delta, or sesparse file for VMFS, or the .UUID.lck file for vSAN.
  vmfsfilelockinfo -p /vmfs/volumes/<Datastore UUID>/<VM folder>/<VM file name>
  

  Example Output:
  
  vmfsfilelockinfo Version 2.0

  Looking for lock owners on "VM file name"
'VM file name" is locked in Exclusive mode by host having mac address ['##:##:##:##:##:##']
Trying to use information from VMFS Heartbeat

  Host owning the lock on file is 10.##.##.10, lockMode : Exclusive
Total time taken : 4.332670005038381 seconds.

• Note the IP address from the above output and confirm which host in the environment is holding the lock on the files.
• Log in to the SSH session of the above-noted host and try to delete the files from that host.
• If in case you the issue persists due to file lock errors, reboot the ESXi host, then attempt to delete the files.