"A general system error occurred input/output error" while accessing the local datastore.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• VMs appear in an inaccessible state in vCenter.

• VM folders are missing on the local datastore.

• Attempting to browse the datastore in vCenter displays “No item found”.

• You may see the drive has gone into "Permanently Unavailable" state after frequent Read (Cmd 28) and Write (Cmd 2A) failures

Verification:

• Accessing the datastore via vCenter UI or ESXi Host Client UI results in the error: "A general system error occurred Input/output error"

• The df -h command shows that local datastores are inaccessible.

VmFileSystem: Slow refresh failed: Cannot open volume: /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########
VmFileSystem: Slow refresh failed: Unable to get FS Attrs for /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########
VmFileSystem: Slow refresh failed: Unable to get FS Attrs for /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########
Error when running esxcli, return status was: 1
Errors:
Error getting data for filesystem on '/vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########': Cannot open volume: /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########, skipping.
Error getting data for filesystem on '/vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########': Unable to get FS Attrs for /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########, skipping.
Error getting data for filesystem on '/vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########': Unable to get FS Attrs for /vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########, skipping.
Cannot open volume:

• Logs are not written to the default ESXi log path, and exporting logs generates no output.

[root@ESXi_hostname :~ ] cd /var/run/log
[root@ESXi_hostname:/vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########/log] ls
[root@ESXi_hostname:/vmfs/volumes/########-####-####-####-###########/log]

• /var/run/log/vmkernel.log from host console may show Device is permanently unavailable with No connection SCSI code messages: H:0x1 D:0x0 P:0x0

    2026-01-14T14:25:47.109Z cpu63:2097361)ScsiDeviceIO: 4686: Cmd(0x45bb02852400) 0x2a, CmdSN 0x9e1909 from world 2098013 to dev "naa. 600############b383####bc" failed H:0x1 D:0x0 P:0x0
    2026-01-14T14:25:47.109Z cpu63:2098013) WARNING: FS3J: 3386: Error committing txn callerID: 0xc1d0000f to slot 1: Device is permanently unavailable.

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

• This issue occurs when the local hard disk in the ESXi host fails, resulting in datastore unavailability.
• Since VMs are stored on the local datastore, they enter an inaccessible state when the underlying storage device becomes unreadable.

 Cause Validation:

• From the server’s out-of-band management console (iDRAC / iLO), hardware alerts confirm a local hard disk failure.

Resolution

• Engage the hardware vendor to validate the disk failure.

• Replace the defective local hard disk as per vendor guidance.