Troubleshooting - Unsupported or invalid disk error in ESXi

Error Description

Failed to power on virtual machine XXXXXX . Unsupported or invalid disk type 23 for ‘scsi0:1’. Ensure that the disk has been imported. Error in ESXi Error in ESXi

Cause

This issue occurs if a virtual machine that is meant for VMware Hosted products such as VMware Workstation, VMware Player or VMware Fusion is powered-on on an ESX/ESXi host.

The underlying format used to store virtual machines on VMware Hosted products differs from the format used to store virtual machines on ESX/ESXi hosts.

Solution

The .vmdk file needs to be converted to the accepted the ESXi format using the steps below:

  1. Upload the .vmdk file to datastore in ESXi

  2. Connect to the ESX/ESXi host via SSH

  3. Run the below commands to convert the file

    cd vmfs
cd volumes
cd datastore1
vmkfstools -i xxxxxx.vmdk xxxx-New.vmdk

Result

After successful conversion new file will be generated.