Unable to remove inaccessible nfs datastores

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Unable to remove or unmount nfs inaccessible datastores

Datastores will show as inaccessible in the vCenter:

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

 

Cause

You cannot unmount an NFS datastore because:

• The NFS datastore has running or registered objects
• The NFS share has been disconnected from the host
• NFS datastore cannot be mounted but is also unavailable in the list to unmount

This issue can occur if the NFS server is removed without removing the NFS datastore. Re-adding the NFS server does not refresh the datastore mount.

Resolution

Follow the steps in the following KB article to list and remove the inaccessible NFS datastores via an SSH session to an ESXi host that had the datastore mounted on.

Remounting a disconnected NFS datastore from the ESXi command line