Steps to resolve Failed LV Activation error in Proxmox VE

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Steps to Resolve Proxmox Error While Starting Any VM: "Activating LV 'pve/data' failed"

Error Description

While starting a VM in Proxmox, you might encounter the following error:

Error: activating LV 'pve/data' failed: Activation of logical volume pve/data is prohibited while logical volume pve/data_tmeta is active

This error may occur due to excessive space allocation in the thin pool. To investigate, check the logical volumes using the following command:

# lvs -a

You might see output similar to:

  LV                                VG  Attr       LSize    Pool Origin        Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  data                              pve twi---tz-- <795.77g                                                 
  data_meta0                        pve -wi-a-----    8.12g                                                 
  [data_tdata]                      pve Twi-a----- <795.77g                                                 
  [data_tmeta]                      pve ewi-a-----    8.12g                                                 
  [lvol1_pmspare]                   pve ewi-------    8.12g                                                 
  root                              pve -wi-ao----   96.00g                                                 
  snap_vm-100-disk-0_all_working    pve Vri---tz-k    4.00m data vm-100-disk-0                             
  snap_vm-100-disk-0_snap2          pve Vri---tz-k    4.00m data vm-100-disk-0                             
  snap_vm-100-disk-0_snap3          pve Vri---tz-k    4.00m data vm-100-disk-0                             
  snap_vm-100-disk-1_all_working    pve Vri---tz-k  640.00g data vm-100-disk-1                             
  snap_vm-100-disk-1_snap2          pve Vri---tz-k  640.00g data vm-100-disk-1                             
  snap_vm-100-disk-1_snap3          pve Vri---tz-k  640.00g data vm-100-disk-1                             
  snap_vm-101-disk-0_snapshot_test1 pve Vri---tz-k    8.00g data vm-101-disk-0                             
  swap                              pve -wi-ao----    7.00g                                                 
  vm-100-disk-0                     pve Vwi---tz--    4.00m data                                           
  vm-100-disk-1                     pve Vwi---tz--  640.00g data                                           
  vm-100-disk-2                     pve Vwi---tz--  512.00g data                                           
  vm-100-state-all_working          pve Vwi---tz--  <10.49g data                                           
  vm-100-state-snap1                pve Vwi---tz--  <10.49g data                                           
  vm-100-state-snap2                pve Vwi---tz--  <10.49g data                                           
  vm-100-state-snap3                pve Vwi---tz--  <10.49g data                                           
  vm-101-disk-0                     pve Vwi---tz--    8.00g data                                           
  vm-103-disk-0                     pve Vwi---tz--    8.00g data

Resolution Steps

Step 1: Deactivate the data component of the thin pool

# lvchange -an pve/data_tdata

This deactivates the data portion where virtual disk data is stored.

Step 2: Deactivate the metadata component of the thin pool

# lvchange -an pve/data_tmeta

This deactivates the metadata portion that contains block mappings and space usage.

Step 3: Reactivate the thin pool

# lvchange -ay pve/data

This reactivates the pool (pve/data) and automatically brings up both `data_tdata` and `data_tmeta` in a consistent state.

Final Step

After executing the above commands successfully (i.e., with no errors), try starting any of the VMs in Proxmox. The VMs should now start and be accessible.

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Note: Always ensure backups exist before manipulating LVM components in production environments.