Failed to delete a VM with an error "XML element depth exceeds configured maximum 100"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Trying to delete a VM fails with an error "XML element depth exceeds configured maximum 100".
• In vpxd.log we see similar entries :
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSS info vpxd[54584] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=m8mmw7j1-731011-auto-fo1w-h5:70172014-4f] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN task-199869 -- vm-#### -- vim.ManagedEntity.destroy -- 52a4d16f-f6fa-f8f6-6499-dcabe3a810ed(52c7f24a-a613-d9b8-9dac-efea7b455bc0)
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSS info vpxd[54584] [Originator@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[25] opID=m8mmw7j1-731011-auto-fo1w-h5:70172014-4f] SOAP request returned HTTP failure; <SSL(<io_obj p:0x00007feebc07a168, h:26, <TCP '###.###.###.### : #####'>, <TCP '###.###.###.### : 443'>>), /vpxa>, method: ReconfigVm; code: 500(Internal Server Error); fault: (vmodl.fault.InvalidRequest) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>
-->    msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<SSL(<io_obj p:0x00007feebc07a168, h:26, <TCP '###.###.###.### : <PortNumber>'>, <TCP '###.###.###.### : 443'>>), /vpxa>]: ReconfigVm
--> XML element depth exceeds configured maximum 100
  
  

Environment

VMware ESXi 7.0

VMware ESXi 8.0

Cause

This issue may occur when the virtual machine has more than 32 snapshots, exceeding the maximum supported number.

Best practices for using VMware snapshots in the vSphere environment

Resolution

Delete all snapshots, wait until the consolidation is complete, and then delete the virtual machine again.

If snapshot consolidation fails, a third-party vendor's backup solution backup proxy virtual machine may be locking that snapshot. Refer to Failed to lock the file or One or more disks are busy deleting VM snapshots for troubleshooting.