"The source system is configured with custom ports that are unsupported for the target appliance" error when migrating from Windows vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Migrating from Windows vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance fails.
• You see the error similar to:

Error: The source system is configured with custom ports that are unsupported for the target appliance.
Unsupported custom ports found: HTTP port (81, default 80) Resolution: Change source system custom ports to the default values.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the source vCenter Server has ports that have been changed from default. For more information, see Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, change the http and https port to 80 and 443 respectively in the config.xml file.

Note: Take a backup of the configuration file before proceeding.

1. On the Windows machine, navigate to C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-rhttpproxy\ folder.
2. Open and modify the below entries in config.xml file

<httpport>80

<httpsport>443

For vCenter Server 5.5 Installed on Windows refer to the below registry entry for HttpProxyPort:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VirtualCenter\

Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure that you have a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine. For more information on backing up and restoring the registry, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 256986.