Error: "Operation on CD-ROM image file [path to iso] has failed" after powering on VM with ISO mounted

Products

• VMware Telco Cloud Platform
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to power on a Virtual Machine (VM) with an ISO attached from a datastore, the following error is encountered:
"Operation on CD-ROM image file [path to iso] has failed. Subsequent operations on this file are also likely to fail unless the image file connection is corrected. Try disconnecting the image file, then reconnecting it to the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive. Select Continue to continue forwarding the error to the guest operating system. Select Disconnect to disconnect the image file"

Additionally, the ESXi host logs display the following errors associated with the datastore volume containing the ISO:

WARNING: Fil3: 1564: Failed to reserve volume f530 28 1 xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Environment

ESXi 7 Update3

TCP 5

Cause

The issue is caused by a physical drive failure on the underlying storage array housing the datastore where the ISO resides.

See Additional Information section for more information

Resolution

1. Identify the impacted underlying physical storage array presenting the affected volume.

2. Investigate the storage array for physical drive failures or hardware degradation.

3. Engage the storage vendor for hardware replacement and array health restoration.

4. Once storage health is restored, verify datastore accessibility and retry the VM power-on operation.

Additional Information

Physical drive failure on a storage array