vCenter no longer connected to Hosts after Power Outage

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

After an unexpected power outage of the environment, the vCenter VM fails to power on. In the ESXi Host UI -> Virtual Machines -> find the vCenter VM, note the VM's Status = Invalid, Used Space = Unknown, Host name = Unknown

Environment

vSphere 8.x

Cause

vCenter VM has an ISO attached to the VM, that is no longer available, this will prevent the VM from power on correctly.

Resolution

To Resolve this issue, remove the ISO attached to the vCenter VM with the following commands.

• Open SSH to the ESXi Host the vCenter VM was on
  • Navigate to the location of the vCenter VM
    • Make a backup of the VMX file

      • cp vCenter.vmx vCenter.vmx.bak
        

    • Edit the vCenter.vmx file with vi commands

      • From 
        ide0:0.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/.../patch-FP.iso"
        ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
        
        To 
        ide0:0.fileName = "emptyBackingString"
        ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"
        ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"
        ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
        ide0:0.clientDevice = "TRUE"
        

        • save the changes and exit the file
• Back in the ESXi Host UI, try to power the vCenter VM on.