VMs show as (invalid) in vSphere

This occurred after the Datastore filled up due to snapshot bloat.


A number of VMs have a (invalid) next to them in vSphere. These have to be individually restored as follows:

• Note down the machine name and Datastore
• remove from Inventory
• browse to the snapshot folder in the correct Datastore
• browse to the latest snapshot
• browse to the VM's snapshot folder
• Find the .vmx (>0 Kb) and upload to an accessible share
• Browse out of snapshots and into Inventory
• browse to VMs folder
• Download .vmx from the share, replacing the existing one (0Kb)
• Add to Inventory and add to correct Datastore

Power management should kick in (depending on your environment) and the VM should spin back up. If prompted by vSphere, select 'I copied it'