"An error occurred while invoking external command : '%(0)s'" during vCenter Migration Assistant precheck

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Using Migration assistant to upgrade from a Windows vCenter 6.0 to vCenter Server Appliance 6.5, the cls precheck fails with the following. 

[org.slf4j.impl.Log4jLoggerFactory]\r\n"
            ],
            "id": "install.ciscommon.command.errinvoke",
            "localized": "An error occurred while invoking external command : 'Command: ['D:\\\\Program Files\\\\VMware\\\\vCenter Server\\\\jre\\\\bin\\\\java.exe', '-Dvcde.home=D:\\\\Program Files\\\\VMware\\\\vCenter Server\\\\vdcs', '-Dvcde.cfg.dir=E:\\\\ProgramData\\\\VMware\\\\vCenterServer\\\\cfg\\\\vdcs', '-cp', 'C:\\\\migA8CB.tmp\\\\PFiles\\\\VMware\\\\CIS\\\\cis_upgrade_runner\\\\payload\\\\component-scripts\\\\cls\\\\jars\\\\cls-upgrade-6.5.jar;C:\\\\migA8CB.tmp\\\\PFiles\\\\VMware\\\\CIS\\\\cis_upgrade_runner\\\\payload\\\\component-scripts\\\\cls\\\\jars\\\\dbutil-6.5.jar', 'com.vmware.cl.unified.upgrade.migration.PreUpgradeCheckHelper', u'windows', 'E:\\\\ProgramData\\\\VMware\\\\vCenterServer\\\\cfg\\\\vdcs\\\\upgrade-input-vc65']
### lines omitted for brevity ###
            "translatable": "An error occurred while invoking external command : '%(0)s'"

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables might vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs if the password special characters are not passing correctly to the migration assistant scripts.

For Example, the combination of "!!".

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Change the password to include a combination of a single special character.

For example: Password@123.

2. Perform the migration
3. After the migration, change the password back