If you are attempting to set or update the scratch location for an ESXi host using the vSphere Client as per Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi (1033696), you may experience these symptoms:

• After clicking OK the Update option valuestask completes successfully, but the new setting is not honored and the advanced option setting shows the old setting
• /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog.log contains the entry:
  
  verbose 'ScratchOptionProvider' opID=8F8CA6B1-00000660-38] Exception setting ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation : FileIO error: Could not find file : /etc/vmware/locker.conf
  info 'ScratchOptionProvider'] Error getting Scratch config information : FileIO error: Could not find file : /etc/vmware/locker.conf

• Recreate the file:
1. SSH to the ESXi host with root credentials.
2. Change directory to /etc/vmware with the command:
   
   cd /etc/vmware
   
   
3. Verify that the locker.conf file is not present with the command:
   
   ls -ltr locker.conf
   
   
4. Recreate the locker.conf file with the command:
   
   touch /etc/vmware/locker.conf
   
   
5. Create the scratch location. For more information, see Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi (1033696).
   
   
• Reboot the ESXi host.