Datastore still showing in vCenter after being removed from the environment.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 4.x - View
• VMware vCenter Server 5.0
• VMware vCenter Server 6.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

A datastore that has been unmounted and removed from the environment continues to appear in the vCenter inventory.

Environment

vCenter (All versions)

Cause

The datastore is still referenced by one or more virtual machines (VMs) or VM templates.

Resolution

 

1. In vCenter, select the affected datastore.

2. Navigate to the VMs tab.

3. Review both the Virtual Machines and VM Templates views to identify dependencies.

4. If a VM or template is no longer required:

   • Right-click and select Remove from Inventory (Unregister).

5. If the VM or template is required:

   • Verify that no disks, ISOs, swap files, or log file locations are still configured on the removed datastore.

   • Update the VM configuration to point to valid storage resources.

 

 

Additional Information

 

• A datastore will remain in vCenter as long as it is referenced by any registered object.

• After removing all dependencies, refresh the datastore view to confirm that it no longer appears.