Virtual Machine intermittently appears as inaccessible then normal in vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual machine will intermittently show normal, (accessible) then inaccessible in the vCenter inventory.
• In the vCenter inventory, there will be different hosts associated with the vm depending on the state of the vm.
• Virtual machine was likely associated with an HA event.
• On host were the vm shows as inaccessible in vCenter, it shows the vm name as a path to the vmx file. Also shows the vm as invalid.
• On the host associated with the vm being up and running, the vm will show as normal.

Environment

VMware vCenter 8.x

Cause

During HA event multiple hosts claim the vm in inventory with one host being able to start it.

Resolution

On the host side where the vm shows as invalid and the name is the path to the vmx file, unregister the vm. 

From the host web client, right click on vm then choose unregister.

This might be on more then one host.  Make sure not to unregister vm from host where it shows normally.