ESXi Host Fails to Boot Due to Corrupted Boot Volume (Fatal Error: 11 Volume corrupted)

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

1. During the boot process, ESXi host fails to start and display the error message "Fatal error: 11 (volume corrupted)".
   
   
   
   
   
2. During the reinstallation of the ESXi host, we encountered an issue with one or more vFAT bootbank partitions.
   
   

Environment

8.0 U3

Cause

This issue occurs when the boot LUN or disk used by the ESXi host becomes corrupted. The corruption can result from disk failure, or storage-related inconsistencies that affect the boot partition.

Resolution

Reinstall the ESXi host using a new or healthy LUN as the boot device. After installation, reconfigure the host settings and reconnect it to the cluster. Once done, the host should boot normally without any errors.