Just ran into an issue with a VMware VM that was at one time replicated offsite using VMware’s replication tool. For some reason, when the service was decomissioned, (at least) one of our VMs was still marked as a replicated machine. When a VM is marked as active, then it will not be possible to extend the disk drive. In our case it appears that it was also in the middle of a replication, long since abandoned.
To fix, we found this article: StuffThatMightBeUseful
In the article, the author points out that the VM needs to be shut down. Probably better if the VM is down, but in our case we did not have this option and changed the setting on the running VM. Worked and did not crash. yet.
The steps are simple:
- Find the VM_ID (number in 1st column): vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms |grep “name of your VM”
- Confirm current state: vim-cmd hbrsvc/vmreplica.getState VM_ID
- Fix: vim-cmd hbrsvc/vmreplica.disable VM_ID
Elmars Tinkering Again 
Hey there,
Thanks for linking to my post. You are actually right, you do not need to turn of the VM, this is just what VMWare/VEEAM were advising to do in their KB ;). We have also had the case of a VM we couldn’t shut down and removing the files with it running went just fine!
Cheers