Virtual Machine Unexpectedly Restarts with "Performing disk cleanup. Cannot power off." Error

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

A virtual machine running on an ESXi 8.x host unexpectedly reboots and becomes unresponsive, displaying the error message, "Performing disk cleanup. Cannot power off."

Environment

 

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

• VMware vSAN OSA 8.x

 

Cause

The root cause of this issue is a failure during a snapshot consolidation process. When the VM attempts to "unstun" from a snapshot operation (e.g., a consolidation or replication), it enters a CPT_CONTINUE_SYNC stage.

During this stage, the system tries to synchronize and save device data. The process fails specifically when trying to save data for the scsi0 device because the HBR (vSphere Replication) filter cannot be properly attached.

The following log entries confirm this behavior:

 

####-##-##T##:##:##.#### Db(###) Hostd[#######]: [Originator@#### sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/vsan:################-################/########-####-####-####-############/virtualmachine.vmx] Handling vmx message ####: An operation required the virtual machine to quiesce and the virtual machine was unable to continue running.
####-##-##T##:##:##.350Z Db(###) Hostd[#######]: -->
####-##-##T##:##:##.#### In(###) Hostd[#######]: [Originator@#### sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr] Event ##### : Error message on virtualmachine on esxacme.acme.acme in ha-datacenter: An operation required the virtual machine to quiesce and the virtual machine was unable to continue running.

Resolution

This is a known issue with a recommended workaround.

To resolve the issue, you must manually edit the virtual machine's .psf file and update the objectID parameter with the full datastore path.

1. SSH into the ESXi host where the virtual machine resides.

2. Navigate to the virtual machine's directory.

3. Open the .psf file using a text editor such as vi.

4. Locate the line containing the objectID parameter. It will look similar to this: objectID = "vsan://########-####-####-####-############"

5. Change the value to include the full datastore path, as shown below: objectID = "vsan://################-################/########-####-####-####-############"

6. Save the changes and exit the editor.

7. Attempt to power on the virtual machine.

Additional Information

The issue is ultimately resolved in the upcoming release of ESXi8.0 Patch 07 

 

ESXi Build Numbers