Error: "Permission to Perform This Operation Was Denied" while performing P2V conversion using VMware vCenter Converter.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Physical to virtual machine (P2V) conversion using VMware vCenter Converter fails with error: permission to perform this operation was denied.
  
  
• Reviewing logs at C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\logs, the following error is recorded, indicating that User Account Control (UAC) is enabled while the converter is being run without elevated administrative privileges: UAC is enabled! using non elevated administrator.
  
  
• The following traces are found in the converter-gui-#.log file:
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS: info converter-gui[03820] [Originator@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[1]] SOAP request returned HTTP failure; <<io_obj t:class Vmacore::System::NamedPipeObjectAsio, h:2484, <pipe '\\.
\pipe\vmware-converter-server-soap'>, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-server-soap'>>, /converter/sdk>, method: query; code: 500(Internal Server Error); fault: (vim.fault.NoPermission) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>,
-->    object = 'converter.QueryManager:ConverterAgentQueryManager',
-->    privilegeId = "#.#.#.#.#\<Domain ID>",
-->    missingPrivileges = <unset>
-->    msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<<io_obj t:class Vmacore::System::NamedPipeObjectAsio, h:2484, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-server-soap'>, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-server-soap'
>>, /converter/sdk>]: query
--> Permission to perform this operation was denied."
--> }
  
  
• The vmware-converter-server-#.log file includes the traces listed below:
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS: info vmware-converter-server[07064] [Originator@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[0]] SOAP request returned HTTP failure; <<io_obj t:class Vmacore::System::NamedPipeObjectAsio, h:1844, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>>, /converter/sdk>, method: query; code: 500(Internal Server Error); fault: (vim.fault.NoPermission) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>,
-->    object = 'converter.QueryManager:ConverterAgentQueryManager',
-->    privilegeId = "#.#.#.#.#\<Domain ID>",
-->    missingPrivileges = <unset>
-->    msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<<io_obj t:class Vmacore::System::NamedPipeObjectAsio, h:1844, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>>, /converter/sdk>]: query
--> Received SOAP response fault from [<SSL(<io_obj t:class Vmacore::System::TCPSocketObjectAsio, h:2012, <TCP '#.#.#.#:#####'>, <TCP '#.#.#.#.# : ####'>>), /converter/sdk>]: query
--> "
--> }#.#.#.#.# : ####

Environment

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.6
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.X

Cause

User Account Control (UAC) is a Windows security feature designed to help prevent unauthorized changes to the operating system while safeguarding user data, files, and folders. This prevented the task from initiating the conversion task and is noted in the Prerequisites for Converting a Powered On Windows Machine.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, run the converter with elevated administrative privileges. Alternatively, disable User Account Control (UAC) on both the physical Windows source machine and the machine where the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone server is installed before starting the conversion process.

1. Click on Start > Run and type regedit > Enter.
    
2. Navigate registry path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system"
Note: Improper use of the Registry Editor can cause system-wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows.
    
3. Change the DWORD "EnableLUA" value from 1 to 0.
    
4. Reboot the Windows machine.