Powering on a virtual machine pauses at 95% while waiting for a question to be answered

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article describes how to configure a virtual machine to automatically answer these Virtual Machine Message questions so that manual user intervention is not required.

Symptoms:

• Powering on a virtual machine pauses at 95%
• In the vSphere Client, the Summary tab for the virtual machine shows a yellow message similar to:
• • Virtual Machine Message
    msg.serial.file.open: The serial port output file "/vmfs/volumes/4c4850e4-0dcce710-28d9-00215a5d36b8/so
    ut.txt" already exists
    
    Do you want to replace it with new content or append new content to the end of the file?
    
    For example:
    
    
    
    Or
     
  • Virtual Machine Message
    msg.uuid.altered: This virtual machine might have been moved or copied.
    In order to configure certain management and networking features, VMware ESX needs to know if this virtual machine was moved or copied.
    
    If you don't know, answer "I copied it".
    
    For example:
    
    
     
• The virtual machine finishes the power on operation when you answer the question posed by the Virtual Machine Message.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x

Resolution

When the virtual machine configuration is changed to provide a particular answer, it always provides this same answer until the virtual machine is reconfigured.

An advanced option can be added to the virtual machine configuration that provide an answer to these types of questions. This change can either be made through the GUI or by manually editing the .vmx file for the virtual machine.

The first example in the Symptoms section is asking how to proceed with an existing virtual serial port redirection file. If the question is answered with Append, the existing file is preserved and any new serial output is written to the end of the file. If the question is answered with Replace, the existing file is overwritten with any new serial output.

To prevent this question from being asked from the GUI:

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. In the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine and choose Edit Settings.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Under Advanced, select General and then click Configuration Parameters.
5. Click Add Row.
6. In the new row, enter "answer.msg.serial.file.open" for the Name and enter a Value of either "Append" or "Replace".
7. Click OK in the Configuration Parameters window, then click OK in the Virtual Machine Properties window.

To prevent this question from being asked by modifying the .vmx file:

1. Open the virtual machine's .vmx file in a text editor.
2. Append the line 'answer.msg.serial.file.open="Append" ' or 'answer.msg.serial.file.open="Replace" ' to the file.
3. Save and close the file.

The second example in the Symptoms section displays if a virtual machine's configuration files are copied or moved to a new location. If you answer the question with I moved it, the UUID of the virtual machine is left intact. If you answer the question with I copied it, a new UUID is generated for the virtual machine. It is typically safer to answer with I copied it to prevent duplicate UUIDs.

To prevent the question from being asked from the GUI:

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. In the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine and choose Edit Settings.
3. Click the Options tab. Under Advanced, select General and then click on the Configuration Parameters button.
4. Click Add Row.
5. In the new row, enter "answer.msg.uuid.altered" for the Name and enter a Value of either "I moved it" or "I copied it".
6. Click OK in the Configuration Parameters window, then click OK in the Virtual Machine Properties window.

To prevent this question from being asked by modifying the .vmx file:

1. Open the virtual machine's .vmx file in a text editor.
2. Append the line 'answer.msg.uuid.altered="I copied it" ' or 'answer.msg.uuid.altered="I moved it" ' to the file.
3. Save and close the file.

Additional Information

Other types of Virtual Machine Message questions can be answered automatically. To create a new parameter for use in the GUI or the .vmx file, use the format:

 

"msg.###.###"

 

Where msg.###.### is the text before the colon in the first line of the Virtual Machine Message (for example, msg.serial.file.open or msg.uuid.altered).

 

The answers to the question are the available values for this new parameter.

Read the Article in different languages here:

仮想マシンのパワーオン操作が 95% 完了した時点で、質問に対する回答を待って停止する
等待问题回答时，打开虚拟机电源在达到 95% 时暂停

Also see:

• Troubleshooting a virtual machine that is unable to power on
• Troubleshooting virtual machine power on task hangs