Cannot change MAC Address to Static on a VM
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Cannot change MAC Address to Static on a VM

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Article ID: 316125

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

  • Unable to set a static MAC Address on a Virtual Machine after upgrading to vCenter 8.0 U2
  • When setting a static MAC Address to a VM manually, it automatically reverts from "manual" to "automatic"

Environment

vSphere ESXi 8.0

Cause

When a user changes the MAC address on a network adapter, the new value is never passed to the VM reconfigure API. This is because the MAC address is populated in the VmConfigSpec only when isMacAddressVisible is set to true in the VmHardwareNetworkFormValues, which is never the case because there is no such form control isMacAddressVisible to propagate the value.

Resolution

This issue is fixed in vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2b.

Workaround

  • If using standard port groups or ephemeral port binding, change the MAC address through the Host UI.
  • If using a VDS - that is not an ephemeral port binding - the VM must be set to a standard port group from vCenter, before changing the MAC address on the host.