Non-vCenter VMPower Users unable to mount datastore.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Required vCenter Privileges to Mount an NFS Datastore

Host>Configuration>Storage role/privilege does not exist

Environment

vSphere 8.0

Cause

In Esxi 8.0 non-root users are not able to modify system-level configurations. Mounting a VMFS datastore requires changing the host’s storage structure, a task generally reserved for Administrator or root users, not VM-level power users.

Resolution

Option 1:

 

If your ESXi 8 host is managed by vCenter, the permissions are configured at the host level in the vSphere client:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client as an Administrator.
2. Navigate to the Hosts and Clusters view.
3. Right-click the specific ESXi 8 Host and select Permissions.
4. Click Add to add a user or group.
5. Create a New Role (if one doesn't exist):
   • Go to Menu > Administration > Roles.
   • Click Create Role.
   • Name it "Datastore Manager" (or similar).
   • Under Host > Configuration, select Storage partition configuration (Host.Config.Storage).
   • Optional: Select Datastore > Browse and Datastore > FileManagement to allow browsing and managing files within the datastore.
6. Assign the Role:
   • Go back to the host's Permissions, select the user/group, and choose the newly created role.
   • Ensure Propagate to children is checked if you want them to manage datastores on that host. 

Option 2:

 

If the host is a standalone host, the setting would need to be done on the VMware Host

If managing a standalone ESXi 8 host directly: 

 

1. Log in to the Host Client  ( ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠∶//<𝐸𝑆𝑋𝑖−𝐼𝑃> ) as root.
2. Go to Manage in the navigator pane. 
3. Click the Security & users tab, then Users. 
4. Click Add user to create your power user account. 
5. Go to the Host menu item (top of the navigator) and click Actions > Permissions. 
6. Click Add user and select the user you just created. 
7. Assign a role that includes Host.Config.Storage.