Passing the OVF descriptor is unable to pass XML element envelope

Products

• VMware
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Importing and deploying a virtual appliance using the vSphere Client fails with the error:

An error occurred while passing the OVF descriptor 'unable to pass XML element envelope'

• Using Ovftool 1.0 to extract the OVA file is successful; but fails to import the OVF.
• Using Converter to deploy the file you receive the following error in the wizard:

A general system error occurred: internal error

Resolution

This issue can be cause by a corrupted OVA file.

To resolve the issue, test the OVA file to ensure that package is not corrupt using the Ovftool:

1. Download the OVF (Open Virtual Machine Format) Tool and install this program. For more information, see OVF Tool User Guide.
2. On the server where the OVF Tool is installed, execute:
   
   Note: Extract the OVA file before running this command
   
   ovftool --datastor<wbr style="FONT-STYLE: italic"></wbr>e=<name_of_datastore> <path to the extracted OVF>.ovf vi://root: <wbr style="FONT-STYLE: italic"></wbr><password>@<name_of_esx>
   
   
3. Read and accept the End User License Agreement and click deploy the virtual applicance.
4. Register the deployed virtual machine by executing:
   
   vmware-cmd -s register <path to VMX>.vmx.
   
   

Note: A newer version of the OVF Tool has been released, to download see VMware Download Center. For more details, see OVF Tool Documentation.

Additional Information

Compatibility issues may occur when using the Ovftool 1.0 to extract an OVA to deploy to a non-vSphere environment, such as Virtual Infrastructure 2.5 using the File > Import option on the client.