Unable to Browse vSAN Datastore – “File [Datastore Name] Was Not Found”

Products

• VMware vSAN 8.x

Issue/Introduction

When browsing a vSAN datastore in the vSphere Client, the following error appears:

Operation Failed: File [Datastore Name] was not found

Environment

VMware vSAN 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when a required vSAN service (daemon) on an ESXi host is not running, causing the host to fail to read vSAN objects.

Resolution

1. Check vSAN Health

Review:

vSAN Health → Cluster Health → vSAN daemon liveness check

Reference:
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/318410/vsan-health-service-cluster-health-vsa.html

Restart vSAN daemons on the affected ESXi host:

/etc/init.d/cmmdsd restart

/etc/init.d/epd restart

/etc/init.d/clomd restart

/etc/init.d/cmmdsTimeMachine restart

/etc/init.d/osfsd restart

/etc/init.d/vsanmgmtd restart

2. Place the Host in vSAN-Supported Maintenance Mode

Use:

• Ensure accessibility, or
• Full data migration

Then reboot the ESXi host.

3. Retry the Operation

Once the host returns to the vSAN cluster, browse the vSAN datastore again.
The operation should now succeed.