Error: Unable to write VMX file when powering on a virtual machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual machine cannot be powered on.
• Errors similar to below may be seen in vmware.log file
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - FILE: Open error on /vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-############/VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx~: Resource temporarily unavailable
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - FILEIO: AtomicTempFile: Failed to create temporary file, Error (2), errno: 11
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - Msg_Reset:
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - [msg.configdb.failcreatetemp] An error occurred while creating temporary file for /vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-############/VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - [msg.configdb.failcreatetemp] An error occurred while creating temporary file for /vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-############/VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - SNAPSHOT: SnapshotConfigWrite: Failed to write config file "/vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-############/VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx".
• Virtual machine will show a backtrace in the vmware.log file.
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - PANIC: Critical snapshot error.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS In(05) ####-# - Backtrace:
...

 

 

 

Environment

vCSA:8.0.x

ESX: 8.0.x, 8.0 Update 3g

Cause

The hypervisor cannot create the required temporary configuration file (.vmx~) because of stale metadata entries, locks on the VMFS datastore or VMFS metadata corruption .

Resolution

Option 1: Storage vMotion the virtual machine.

• If you cannot migrate the whole VM including the disks, you can use the "Configure per Disk" option and migrate only the configuration files of the VM.
  Ref: How to Migrate Your Virtual Machine with Storage vMotion.

Option 2: Recreate the VMX file as per Rebuilding the virtual machine's .vmx file from vmware.log) 

Option 3: Create a new VM with no disks and add the existing disks to the new VM.

• You need to obtain the details of the VM such as number of CPU and memory and also the scsi devices for each disk.

Additional Information

Contact Broadcom Support for further assistance if needed.

Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESXi using vSphere Client