VM is not getting power ON

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to power on a VM from the vCenter GUI, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Object type requires hosted I/O
Failed to start the virtual machine.
Module Disk power on failed.
Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/VM_Name/VM_NANE-######.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

Environment

ESXi 7.x
ESXi 8.x

Cause

An essential file for the VM is locked by another ESXi host or process and the ESXi host attempting to gain an exclusive lock for powering on the VM, can't obtain it.

Resolution

- Check for locked files at the CLI using the vmfsfilelockinfo command (see "Investigating Virtual Machine file locks on ESXi Host(s)" in the Additional Information section below).
- Even when files don't appear to be locked, they may be in use, if someone is attempting to download the VM directory and/or one of the essential components of the VM, it may be preventing the ESXi host from locking it for powering on.

Additional Information

Investigating Virtual Machine file locks on ESXi Host(s)