Upgrading to ESXi 6.7 and a subsequent rollback to version 6.5 or earlier fails

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Performing one of the below actions on the ESXi host after reverting to 6.5 or earlier versions fails with the error message:

•  Install patches and VIBs on the host

            Error message: [DependencyError] VIB VMware_locker_tools-light requires esx-version >= 6.6.0

• Install or upgrade VMware Tools on VMs

           Error message: Unable to install VMware Tools

Cause

After the ESXi rolls back from version 6.7, the new tools-light VIB does not revert to the earlier version. As a result, the VIB becomes incompatible with the rolled back ESXi host causing this issue.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, take an SSH session to the host and run one of these commands, where the VIB or depot zip match the version of currently running ESXi:
 

          esxcli software vib install -v /path/to/tools-light.vib

          Or

          esxcli software vib install -d /path/to/depot/zip -n tools-light

Note: offline bundle in zip format for the ESXi version currently running can be downloaded from VMware Download page

Additional Information

Upgrading from ESXi 6.7 to ESXi 6.7 U1 or later through "esxcli vib update" method fails
Running the esxupdate command fails with dependency error: Requested VIB rpm_vmware-esx-vmkernel64_4.0.0-2.17.261974@i386 conflicts with the host