Host: ESXi 7 OU2; Guest: Windows 2012R2
I have a very simple environment: Vsphere 7 Essentials running 1 VM, that's all.
After creating the VM (P to V migrated) and allowing it to run for about 2 weeks, I shut down the VM to export it. The size is really big. First attempt at export did not succeed (I was away and not sure what happened; all I know was it ended with "Failed" on the browser download status after about 5 hours). So I made a 2nd attempt. This time it lasted the whole night, but since people need it to work, I had to cancel the export to bring up the VM. The Cancel request took awfully long on the esxi console, so I just cancelled on the browser side (cancel download).
Then my trouble started as follows:
1. The VM could not power on. The error message was "power on failed - the attempted operation cannot be performed in the current state (powered off)".
2. I tried to unregister the VM but also failed. After doing this, I began to see the VM icon (the little blue icon next to the name of the VM) flashing, as though searching for something.
3. I tried to power off the esxi host, but it warned me it is not in maintenance mode. I tried to place it in maintenance mode -- it end up failed after a while.
4. The VM seemed to be in zombie state: a) if I highlight the VM, on the Menu bar, Power On, Shutdown, Suspend, Restart are all grayed out. But if I right click the VM, Power On is still available; b) if I go to More VMs..., this sole VM is listed and the Status is OK.
5. There was a whole lot of information in the Events saying <GuestVM> is resuming (... but resuming from what??)
My guess is I should not have canceled the export (or should have waited for it to "finish cancelling"). My previous experience was with Esxi 5.x and export / cancel export had never been so exciting...
In the end I took a risk and powered off the esxi host. And all problems went away. But I just want to know what I did wrong so that I don't create unnecessary problem.