VxRail: Adding VMDK to VMware VM fails with error "PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: vmodl.fault.SystemError"

Summary: VxRail: Adding a Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) to VMware virtual machine (VM) fails with error "PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: vmodl.fault.SystemError"

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Symptoms

Adding a VMDK to a VM fails with system error: 

Task: Reconfigure virtual machine
Status: A general system error occurred: PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: vmodl.fault.SystemError
Initiator: VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator
Target: DB_VM
Server: vcenter.dell.com


vCenter server VPXD log shows warning for the attached VMDK/s to the VM "No datastore for disk" also datastore not set for it.

root@vcenter [ ~ ]# less /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log
2019-06-18T09:21:41.832Z warning vpxd[16089] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=jw13m63i-320371-auto-6v78-h5:70019356-5a] Unable to lookup ds for disk
2019-06-18T09:21:41.839Z info vpxd[16260] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=jw13m63i-320371-auto-6v78-h5:70019356-5a] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN task-33308 -- vm-262 -- vim.VirtualMachine.reconfigure -- 52c2b6af-6def-0b91-af3e-0d8bcc332917(52eb73a4-a3af-3d99-b528-f160c28e5ab1)
2019-06-18T09:21:41.840Z info vpxd[16260] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=jw13m63i-320371-auto-6v78-h5:70019356-5a-01] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN lro-12586921 --  -- VmprovWorkflow --
2019-06-18T09:21:41.843Z info vpxd[16260] [Originator@6876 sub=pbm opID=jw13m63i-320371-auto-6v78-h5:70019356-5a-01] No datastore for disk -101 in config, filePath ds:///vmfs/volumes/vsan:5278d47ab4a915d0-46e19c6052636dd7/
<...>
2019-06-18T09:21:41.923Z info vpxd[16260] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=jw13m63i-320371-auto-6v78-h5:70019356-5a] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-33308 -- vm-262 -- vim.VirtualMachine.reconfigure: vmodl.fault.SystemError:
--> Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>,
-->    reason = " PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: vmodl.fault.SystemError
--> ;
--> "
-->    msg = ""
--> }
root@vcenter [ ~ ]#

Storage policy compliance shows Unknown for the VMDK/s of the VM.

Screenshot showing the unknown status for storage compliance

Attempting to Recheck or updating VM storage compliance fails.

Cause

The exact cause of this issue is unknown, however this issue was observed on a converted VM from Hyper-V to VMware.

Resolution

Follow the below steps as a workaround to fix this issue:

  1. Power off the existing VM
  2. Clone the VM to a new VM 
  3. Check Storage policy compliance of the cloned VM and make sure it shows "Compliant" on the VMDK/s
  4. Add the new VMDK to the cloned VM
  5. Power on the cloned VM

Affected Products

VxRail, VxRail Appliance Series, VxRail Software
Article Properties
Article Number: 000166901
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 22 May 2025
Version:  4
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