I see this more and more often on ESXi 4.1
A VM can not be started with the error [msg.disk.configureDiskError] Reason: Invalid argument.
A typical log extract looks like:
VMXVmdb_LoadRawConfig: Loading raw config
DISK: OPEN scsi0:0 '/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk' persistent R[]
AIOGNRC: Failed to open '/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c-flat.vmdk' : Invalid argument (5634) (0x2013).
DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c-flat.vmdk" : failed to open (Invalid argument): AIOMgr_Open failed. Type 3
DISKLIB-LINK : "/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk" : failed to open (Invalid argument).
DISKLIB-CHAIN : "/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk" : failed to open (Invalid argument).
DISKLIB-LIB : Failed to open '/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk' with flags 0xa Invalid argument (1441801).
DISK: Cannot open disk "/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk": Invalid argument (1441801).
Msg_Post: Error
[msg.disk.noBackEnd] Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/494b5559-aba4a48e-80c6-001a64689db9/domino/domino_c.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
the vmdk in question has NO stale locks - at least vmkfstools -D does not show anything
the vmdk is not open in any other process
rebooting the esxi does not help
moving the vmdk is not possible
renaming it does not work
datastorebrowser can not copy it
winscp can not copy it
vmkfstools can not clone it
vMotion is not available or fails
Converter fails
if the VM is stored on a local disk of the esxi I can copy it with a LiveCD using vmfs-tools
what do I do in such a case if the VM is stored on a SAN ?