Guest OS disk partition visible in device manager but temporarily inaccessible through driver letter

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Issue is only apparent at Guest OS level. Reviewing ESXi host logs for storage errors in vobd or vmkernel, none are found  

 

In vmware.log, the following errors are found. 

2025-10-14T13:54:33.863Z In(05) vmx - GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox timed out. 
2025-10-14T13:54:33.863Z In(05) vmx - Tools: [AppStatus] Last heartbeat value 6648024 (last received 18s ago) 
2025-10-14T13:54:33.863Z In(05) vmx - TOOLS: appName=toolbox, oldStatus=1, status=2, guestInitiated=0. 
2025-10-14T13:54:35.713Z In(05) vcpu-4 - Tools: [AppStatus] Last heartbeat value 6648024 (last received 19s ago) 
2025-10-14T13:54:35.713Z In(05) vcpu-4 - TOOLS: appName=toolbox, oldStatus=2, status=1, guestInitiated=0. 
2025-10-14T13:54:53.865Z In(05) vmx - GuestRpcSendTimedOut: message to toolbox timed out. 
2025-10-14T13:54:53.865Z In(05) vmx - Tools: [AppStatus] Last heartbeat value 6648035 (last received 8s ago) 
2025-10-14T13:54:53.865Z In(05) vmx - TOOLS: appName=toolbox, oldStatus=1, status=2, guestInitiated=0. 
2025-10-14T13:55:05.778Z In(05) vcpu-0 - Tools: Tools heartbeat timeout. 

Environment

ESXi 8.x

Cause

Tools indicates a problem with VMware tools or Guest OS communication with tools. 

Resolution

Reinstall VMware tools. If problem persists open a support case with Broadcom Virtual Machine support and or Guest OS vendor. 

Additional Information

Install VMware Tools in VMware products