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Its not showing the vm, I removed it from inventory and tried to re-add it but that was a no-go so its not there anymore. It is still running, is there a way to migrate just the files then spin it back up?
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LemonCalvin

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Hi,<br />
<br />
You have to re-register this VM in your inventory.<br />

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I removed the vm from inventory and created another one but it failed to start saying the VMDK file was locked and the vm could not be started
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it seems you tried to create a new VM and add the VMDK of the existing running VM. You cannot do that if existing VM is running, this is normal behaviour.<br />
In vsphere, browse your local datastore where your running VM is stored, right click on .vmx file and select Register VM... option
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R@f@r P@NC3R - I tried Option1 but I was still in the same situation because the vm was still not present. I was not able to try Option 2 because this is our exchange production server. It's a great option to try when I can schedule some down time, possibly this weekend.<br />
<br />
Mr Tortur - I was able to re-register the vm back to the host via vCenter. I now get the msg that there is not enough space on the datastore to start the vm. There is 8.09gb of space available. This same vm has run with just 2gb of space available for about a year and its currently running but the icon appears as if its powered off.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure what else to try except for R@f@r P@NC3R's Option#2.<br />
<a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2018/04_w16/1302758/Insufficient-Disk-Space.png" target="_blank" class="file-inline" title="Insufficient-Disk-Space (11 KB)"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path d="M67.508 468.467c-58.005-58.013-58.016-151.92 0-209.943l225.011-225.04c44.643-44.645 117.279-44.645 161.92 0 44.743 44.749 44.753 117.186 0 161.944l-189.465 189.49c-31.41 31.413-82.518 31.412-113.926.001-31.479-31.482-31.49-82.453 0-113.944L311.51 110.491c4.687-4.687 12.286-4.687 16.972 0l16.967 16.971c4.685 4.686 4.685 12.283 0 16.969L184.983 304.917c-12.724 12.724-12.73 33.328 0 46.058 12.696 12.697 33.356 12.699 46.054-.001l189.465-189.489c25.987-25.989 25.994-68.06.001-94.056-25.931-25.934-68.119-25.932-94.049 0l-225.01 225.039c-39.249 39.252-39.258 102.795-.001 142.057 39.285 39.29 102.885 39.287 142.162-.028A739446.174 739446.174 0 0 1 439.497 238.49c4.686-4.687 12.282-4.684 16.969.004l16.967 16.971c4.685 4.686 4.689 12.279.004 16.965a755654.128 755654.128 0 0 0-195.881 195.996c-58.034 58.092-152.004 58.093-210.048.041z"/></svg>Insufficient-Disk-Space.png</a>
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Insufficient-Disk-Space.png

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After spending quite a bit of time with a VMware tech and $300 later, the final solution was (as I thought it would be) reregistering the VM back to the host then rebooting the host then powering on the VM. I'm not sure why, but the tech did lots of middling around with SSH, checking shared storage and other settings before applying the above solution. As far as freeing up space, he did attempt to delete some old VM files from non-existent VM's but they were locked by vmnic0. Even after rebooting the host with the vm's powered off, we were unable to delete the files so I'm still stuck with 12gb of space left on the host. He asked that I put in another ticket since he couldn't help me with that. So, my initial problem is resolved and I thank you for your assistance.
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The final solution was (as I thought it would be) reregistering the VM back to the host then rebooting the host then powering on the VM.
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Issue = Esxi 5.0 Hosting two vm's. One VM shown as Unknown (inaccessible) stored on the local datastore. Although unknown/inaccessible, that vm continues to run w/o issues and is accessible via RDP. On the same host but in shared storage (another host), the other vm looks and runs fine. I saw this post &lt;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28436360/vm-shows-unknown-inaccessible-after-iscsi-datastore-power-failure.html" rel="ugc">https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28436360/vm-shows-unknown-inaccessible-after-iscsi-datastore-power-failure.html</a> &gt;&nbsp;but it did not provide a resolution. I removed the vm from inventory and created another one but it failed to start saying the VMDK file was locked and the vm could not be started. I think i'm going about the wrong way trying to restore a vm that somehow still running but not showing in inventory anywhere. Any help will be much appreciated. Please let me know if you need more information to help me with and/or understand the above issue. Thank you all!
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Issue = Esxi 5.0 Hosting two vm's. One VM shown as Unknown (inaccessible) stored on the local datastore. Although unknown/inaccessible, that vm continues to run w/o issues and is accessible via RDP. On the same host but in shared storage (another host), the other vm looks and runs fine. I saw this post < https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28436360/vm-shows-unknown-inaccessible-after-iscsi-datastore-power-failure.html > but it did not provide a resolution. I removed the vm from inventory and created another one but it failed to start saying the VMDK file was locked and the vm could not be started. I think i'm going about the wrong way trying to restore a vm that somehow still running but not showing in inventory anywhere. Any help will be much appreciated. Please let me know if you need more information to help me with and/or understand the above issue. Thank you all!

VM shown as Unknown (inaccessible) ESXI 5.0

Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.

Virtualization

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media used to retain digital data. In addition to local storage devices like CD and DVD readers, hard drives and flash drives, solid state drives can hold enormous amounts of data in a very small device. Cloud services and other new forms of remote storage also add to the capacity of devices and their ability to access more data without building additional data storage into a device.

Storage

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.