Virtual Machine fails to boot with black screen due to Guest OS GRUB corruption

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• VM fail to load the Guest Operating System (e.g., CentOS) and exhibit a black screen or fail to boot past the BIOS screen.
• Troubleshooting reveals no file locks on the virtual machine files, and reviewing the vmware.log and ESXi host logs indicates no storage, disk, or hardware errors.
• The virtual machine can successfully enter the VM BIOS settings.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

The Guest Operating System (Guest OS) GRUB bootloader configuration is corrupted, preventing the bootloader from successfully locating and loading the operating system kernel.

Resolution

1. Verify that the virtual machine is not experiencing underlying vSphere storage or file lock issues by reviewing the vmware.log for any storage or lock-related errors.
2. Confirm that the virtual machine can successfully complete the Power On process and reach the BIOS/EFI screen.
3. Engage the OS vendor to troubleshoot and repair the Guest OS bootloader configuration.