Unable to reconnect ESXi host with existing local datastore. " Datastore conflicts with an existing datastore in the datacenter that has the same URL"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Reconnecting an ESXi Host, fails with the following error, "Datastore 'data-store-name' conflicts with an existing datastore in the datacenter that has the same URL (ds:///data-store-url), but is backed by different physical storage."

 

 

 

Environment

ESXi 8.x

vCenter 8.x

Cause

When an ESXi Host is removed from vCenter, some associations may still linger through VM's (snapshots or ISOs attached to the VM's).

Resolution

Navigate to the vSphere Web Client UI.

• Open "Datastore" view
  • find the datastore referrenced in the error message
    • look for VM's attached to the datastore
      • check those VM's for Snapshots or ISO's attached to the VM's drives.
        • Delete all Snapshots, and remove any attached ISO's
          • Retry the ESXi Host connection to vCenter.