Symptoms
Attempting to power on a virtual machine displays this error: A general system error occurred: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it The same virtual machine can be powered on from the vSphere Client connected to the ESXi host.
Cause
This is a generic error which occurs if these services are not started:
VMware vCenter workflow manager serviceStarting Profile Driven Storage service
Resolution
To resolve this issue, start the VMware vCenter workflow manager service.
Windows vCenter Server
On the server that runs vCenter Server, open Start > Run, type services.msc and press Enter.Right-click VMware vCenter workflow manager service and click start.Attempt to power on the virtual machine again.
vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)
Connect to the VCSA shell as root. For more information, see:
The Access the Appliance Shell section of the vCenter Server Appliance Configuration guide.Stopping, starting, or restarting VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.x servicesHow to stop, start, or restart vCenter Server Appliance 5.x services
Run this command to restart the VMware vCenter workflow service (vmware-vpx-workflow): service --stop vmware-vpx-workflow service --start vmware-vpx-workflow Attempt to power on the virtual machine again.
Related Information
How to stop, start, or restart vCenter Server Appliance 5.x services
