ESX4.0 host boot stops at the error: VSD mount/Bin/SH:cant access TTY job control turned off

ESX4.0 host boot stops at the error: VSD mount/Bin/SH:cant access TTY job control turned off

Symptoms

• An ESX 4.0 host becomes unresponsive when it is put into maintenance mode.
• Rebooting the host fails.
• You see the error:
  
  VSD mount/Bin/SH:cant access TTY job control turned off.
   
• The ESX host does not boot and drops into Troubleshooting (busy box) mode.

Resolution

This issue occurs if an ESX host cannot identify the esxconsole.vmdk file in which the service console resides. 

 

To troubleshoot this issue: 

1. Go to the console of the ESX host. After the error message, ESX drops into Troubleshooting (busy box) mode.
2. Find the .vmdk for the service console by running the command:
   
   grep "/boot/cosvmdk" /etc/vmware/esx.conf
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   /boot/cosvmdk = "<uudi>/<dir>/esxconsole.vmdk"
   
   For example:
   
   /boot/cosvmdk = "/vmfs/volumes/4a14d968-88bf7161-700f-00145ef48f76/esxconsole-4a14d906-2f96-7956-7284-00145ef48f74/esxconsole.vmdk"
    
3. Make note of the <uuid> and the <dir> values in the output.
4. Verify that the files exist by running the command:
   
   ls -al /vmfs/volumes/<uuid>/<dir>/*.vmdk
   
   Where <uuid> and <path> is from the output of step 2. 
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   total 7906560
   drwxr-xr-x 1 root root        840 May 21 00:45 .
   drwxr-xr-t 1 root root       2660 Oct 21 09:10 ..
   -rw------- 1 root root 8095006720 Oct 26 15:37 esxconsole-flat.vmdk
   -rw------- 1 root root        475 May 21 00:32 esxconsole.vmdk
   drwxr-xr-x 1 root root        980 May 21 00:45 logs
   
   Note: You may receive the error: ls: /vmfs/volumes/4a14d968-88bf7161-700f-00145ef48f76/esxconsole-4a14d906-2f96-7956-7284-045ef48f74/: No such file or directory. If the directory does not exist, see ESX fails to boot when the disk containing the datastore with esxconsole.vmdk is detected as a snapshot (1012142).
     
5. Ensure that both the esxconsole-flat.vmdk and the esxconsole.vmdk files exist. 
   
   If the esxconsole.vmdk file does not exist, see Recreating a missing virtual disk (VMDK) header/descriptor file (1002511) and ensure that the following settings are in place:
   • ddb.adapterType = "buslogic"
   • ddb.consoleOsDisk = "True"
      
6. Ensure that both the esxconsole-flat.vmdk exists.
   
   If the esxconsole-flat file does not exist, you must re-install the ESX host to recreate the service console.