Virtual machine failed to power on due to unsupported LWD filter

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual machine failed to power on.
• Virtual machine was migrated from ESXi 8 to ESXi 7.
• In virtual machine's vmware.log, there is entry as below:
  
  LWD: Version x on sidecar xxxxxxx is too new to be supported. Newest supported version on this host is x.

Environment

ESXi

Cause

• LWD filter was attached on the problematic VM.
• The vm was migrated from ESXi 7 to ESXi 8, after migration, LWD version was updated for ESXi 8
• When the vm attempted to power-on on ESXi 7 host, the updated LWD filter was not compatible with ESXi 7 any more, which prevented VMs powering on.

Resolution

There are two options:

• Migrate the problematic vm back to ESXi 8.
• Remove LWD filter following article 344906.