The .sdd.sf directory within the virtual machine directory cannot be removed.

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

• In vSAN datastores, a .sdd.sf directory exists for each virtual machine directory.
• Attempting to delete the .sdd.sf directory results in the following error: "Cannot delete file [vsanDatastore] <UUID>/.sdd.sf".

Environment

VMware vSAN

Cause

.sdd.sf directory contains metadata for vSAN datastore.
Therefore, it cannot be removed, which is expected behavior.

Resolution

You can delete the virtual machine directory itself, including the .sdd.sf directory.