Getting alerts on vCenter: "Guest operation Initiate File Transfer From Guest performed on Virtual machine".

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Repeated alerts in vCenter for multiple virtual machines were encountered with messages such as

"Guest operation Initiate File Transfer From Guest performed on Virtual Machine <VM_Name>"

These alerts are typically observed across all virtual machines in the environment and may appear frequently.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 

Cause

This issue occurs due to Azure Guest Management features being enabled. Specifically, the Guest Discovery or related guest OS interaction settings in Azure were triggering guest operations like initiate file transfer from guest. These automated actions result in vCenter logging alerts for every guest operation initiated, creating high alert volume.

Resolution

To stop the alerts:

1. Disable the Guest Discovery feature in Azure or any setting that initiates guest operations on VMware virtual machines.

    2. Monitor vCenter alerts to confirm suppression of the "Initiate File Transfer From Guest" messages.