ESXi Host Fails to Retain Configuration Changes After Reboot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After making changes to the ESXi host configuration, they are not being saved. Each time the host restarts, it reverts to its previous state. This indicates that the changes are not persisting properly after a reboot.

Environment

7.0 U3f

Cause

• The bootbank, altbootbank, and scratch partitions are all pointing to /tmp/, instead of their actual locations. This usually means that the system is booting into a temporary filesystem, which doesn’t retain changes after reboot.

• As noted in the article below, if you follow the workaround from Step 1, you don’t find the 'mounted.*rw' command. Even after following Step 2a up to point 5, the error shown below occurs after the reboot.
  
  Bootbank loads in /tmp/ after reboot of ESXi 7.0 Update 1 host

• Because of this, it is identified that the path "productLocker -> /locker/packages/vmtoolsRepo" is corrupted, which further confirms an issue with the boot structure of the host.

Resolution

To resolve this, reinstall the ESXi host on a healthy and stable storage device. This ensures that the system boots into a persistent environment where changes are retained.