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Knowledge Base

Verifying ESX/ESXi virtual machine file names (1003757)

Last Updated: 11/8/2023Categories: TroubleshootingTotal Views: 26026Language:
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Symptoms

You want to rename a virtual machine

Unable to power on a virtual machine

Powering on a virtual machine fails

Cannot power on virtual machine

Error when attempting to power on a virtual machine: A file was not found

Purpose

This article provides steps to verify the files names that are associated with a virtual machine. If there are any discrepancies between what a virtual machine expects to find and what is present, the virtual machine fails to power on.

This article outlines the correct procedure to follow when renaming a virtual machine and its associated files. The article also outlines methods of overcoming problems when these files become corrupted.

Resolution

A manual name change of any file associated with a virtual machine may render the virtual machine unable to start.

Note: Avoid spaces, brackets, or non UTF-8 characters when naming virtual machines and their associated files.

To check the files that are associated with a virtual machine you can use the configuration file (.vmx file) of the virtual machine.

To find the configuration file location of your virtual machine you can use the /bin/vim-cmd command. For more information on the vim-cmd command, see the A Quick Turotial or quick reference KB 2012964

Connect to the ESX host on which the virtual machine resides using SSH. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892) .

Run this command:

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

This returns the paths to the configuration files of every virtual machine registered on that ESX Server host. For example, '/vmfs/volumes/storage1/vm1/vm1.vmx' .

After you can find the configuration file, check each file associated with your virtual machine.

You see entries similar to:

NVRAM File

nvram = "vm1.nvram"

VMXF File

extendedConfigFile = "vm1.vmxf"

Hard Disk (.vmdk file)

scsi0:0.fileName = "vm1-000001.vmdk"

Hard Disk (.vmdk file) not located in same directory

scsi0:1.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/46b2f3ea-980a1c90-6724-001122334455/vm1/vm1DriveD.vmdk"

Swap File (.vswp)

sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/46b2f3eb-ced4c7d8-ccdd-001322557733/vm1/vm1-c8466559.vswp"

The file names listed in the configuration file are what the virtual machine expects and needs to find to power on.

If you are seeing File not found errors when trying to power on your virtual machine, the log files in your virtual machine directory indicate which file is causing the issue. For example:

Mar 27 17:13:38.680: vmx| DISKLIB-LINK : "/vmfs/volumes/46b2f3ea-980a1c90-6724-001122334455/vm1/vm1DriveD.vmdk" : failed to open (The system can not find the file specified)

To troubleshoot issues with file names of your virtual machine, see Verifying ESX/ESXi virtual machine file integrity (1003743) .

Related Information

"An error occurred while consolidating disks:" deleting one or more snapshots or consolidate disks

Detectable by VMware SkylineTM

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Additional Resources

KB
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End Of General Availability of the Free vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 7.x and 8.x) (2107518)

KB
•
删除一个或多个快照或整合磁盘时报错：整合磁盘时出错 (2150414)

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