NVME disks are not appearing in windows VM after it is attached at the VMware side; it appears after a reboot; sometime not even after reboot.

Question

Hi Team ,

NVME disks are not appearing in windows VM after it is attached at the VMware side; it appears after a reboot; sometime not even after reboot.

I checked in the vm edit settings on vmware side.. hard disk is attached properly via nvme controller but it does not appear instantaneously in windows. Is there any suggestion/solution for this?

Thanks,
Nandish

Answer 1

Hi Nandish,

Hope you're doing well.

Here're the relevant steps for your reference:

1. After attaching the NVMe disk in VMware, try rescanning for hardware changes in Windows to detect the newly attached disk. You can do this using Device Manager or Disk Management. Open Device Manager, right-click on the computer name, and select "Scan for hardware changes."
2. If the NVMe disk is not automatically detected, check Disk Management in Windows to see if the disk is listed but uninitialized or unallocated. If so, you may need to initialize and format the disk before it becomes usable.
3. Ensure that the NVMe controller and disk are properly configured in VMware vSphere. Double-check the VM settings to confirm that the NVMe disk is attached to the correct controller and that the controller is compatible with the VM's hardware configuration.
4. Make sure that VMware Tools is installed and up-to-date in the Windows VM. VMware Tools includes drivers and utilities that facilitate communication between the guest OS and the VMware hypervisor, which can help with disk detection and management.
5. Check if any VM storage policies or rules are in place that may affect the visibility or accessibility of newly attached disks. Adjusting or removing any restrictive policies may resolve the issue.
6. Ensure that both VMware ESXi and Windows VM are running the latest updates and patches. Sometimes, compatibility issues or bugs related to disk detection are addressed in software updates.
7. Verify that the appropriate drivers for the NVMe controller are installed and functioning correctly in the Windows VM. If necessary, update or reinstall the drivers to ensure proper operation.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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