Unable to snapshot VM. Error, "An error occurred while saving the snapshot: 22 (invalid argument)"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Unable to Snapshot a Virtual Machine.

• vSphere Client reports the error, 
  

  An error occurred while saving the snapshot: 22 (invalid argument)

• Virtual Machine resides on a vSAN Datastore.
  
  
• The VMs vmware.log reports the below error,
  
  

  YYYY-MM-DDT02:44:36.602Z In(05) vcpu-0 - DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE   :DiskLibAdjustDataDiskCreateType: Overriding create type of child disk "/vmfs/volumes/vsan:####6224e0d1ef37-####d3b91b531c9a/ff023####-3c08-b1a9-123d-##########/<VMNAME>-000001.vmdk" from vmfsSparse to VSANSPARSE.
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT02:44:36.602Z In(05) vcpu-0 - DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE   : CREATE-CHILD: Creating disk backed by 'vsan'
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT02:44:36.604Z Er(02) vcpu-0 - OBJLIB-VSANOBJ: VsanObjCreateInt: Failed to create object: Invalid argument (1441794).
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT02:44:36.604Z In(05) vcpu-0 - DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE   : Failed to create link: Invalid argument (1441801)
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT02:44:36.604Z Er(02) vcpu-0 - DISKLIB-LIB_CREATE   : DiskLib_CreateChild: failed to create child disk: Invalid argument (1441801)

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x and 8.x

Cause

The delta disk (VMNAME-000001.vmdk) could not be created due to expired vSAN licenses in the cluster.

Resolution

To resolve the error, review vSAN licenses in vCenter Server and ensure that the vSAN cluster is licensed.

Validate licenses in vCenter Server at the following location:
Menu -> Administration -> Licensing -> Licenses -> Assets -> VSAN CLUSTERS

To validate if the ESXi host has valid licenses, review the below parameters in the file: /etc/vmware/esx.conf

E.g. unlicensed vSAN host.

/adv/VSAN/LicensedFeatures = ""
/adv/VSAN/Licensed = "0"