VM failing to power on with the error message "There is no more space for virtual disk ####_1.vmdk. You might be able to continue this session by freeing disk space on the relevant volume, and clicking Retry. Click Cancel to terminate".

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Virtual Machine is running on NFS3 Datastore. vSphere UI shows enough space available on the datastore in question. 

Failing to power on a VM and it report error message

"There is no more space for virtual disk ######_1.vmdk. You might be able to continue this session by freeing disk space on the relevant volume, and clicking Retry. Click Cancel to terminate this session". 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Cause

Issue is caused by out-of-space condition on the backend storage, while NFS share is presented as 'thin'.  
Issue can be confirmed by reviewing the ESXi vmkernel logfile, /var/run/log/vmkernel.log will display message similar to:

2025-09-02T08:27:45.618Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu61:2098922)WARNING: NFS: 5922: clap_nfs: No space on NFS volume.

Resolution

Engage storage vendor to free up space and/or add additional storage on the backend.