Failed to quiesce the virtual machine "An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Taking a quiesce snapshot of a Windows vm fails with "An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine..."

Can occur on all Windows OS versions

Task failed in vSphere UI

vmware.log contains similar entries,

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx ########-#######-auto-#####-h5:#######-##-##-### Msg_Post: Warning
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx ########-#######-auto-#####-h5:#######-##-##-### [msg.snapshot.quiesce.timeout] Timed out while quiescing the virtual machine.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx ########-#######-auto-#####-h5:#######-##-##-### ----------------------------------------
.........
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vcpu-0 - ToolsBackup: changing quiesce state: FINISHING -> ERROR_WAIT
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx - ToolsBackup: changing quiesce state: ERROR_WAIT -> IDLE
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx - ToolsBackup: changing quiesce state: IDLE -> DONE
....
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx - SnapshotVM#TakeSnapshotComplete: Done with snapshot 'VM Snapshot DD/MM/YYYY, HH:MM:SS AM': 148
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z In(05) vmx - SnapshotVM#TakeSnapshotComplete: Snapshot 148 failed: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine (29).

On Device Manager on Windows OS, the disks are listed under "Other Devices"

Environment

vCenter 7.x, 8.x

Cause

The disks mounted in Windows don't appear as normal device, they appear as "Other devices" in Device Manager which cause VMware Snapshot provider not find snapshot disk.

Resolution

Updating the drivers for the disks in Windows may resolve the issue. If not, please engage with Microsoft to troubleshoot the issue.