Deploying a virtual machine from OVF fails with the error: Failed to deploy OVF package: Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Deploying a virtual machine from OVF fails.
• You see the error:
  
  Failed to deploy OVF package: Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'.
  
  
• In C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [00340 error 'VmProv' opID=########-########-##-##-##-##] [Workflow] Get exception while executing action vpx.vmprov.CreateDestinationVm: vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking</time>
  --> backtrace[00] rip 000000018018cd7a
  --> backtrace[01] rip 0000000180106c48
  --> backtrace[02] rip 000000018010803e
  --> backtrace[03] rip 00000001800907f8
  --> name = "VMName-ovf",
  --> vmPathName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/########-####-########2bd9/VM-2008R2-ovf/VM-Name-ovf.vmx",
  --> fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/########-####-########2bd9/VM-2008R2-ovf/VM-Name-ovf.vmdk",
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [00340 info 'Default' opID=########-########-##-##-##-##] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-internal-147406 -- -- VmprovWorkflow: vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking:</time>
  --> Result:
  --> (vim.fault.InvalidDeviceBacking) {
  --> dynamicType = <unset>,
  --> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  --> property = "virtualDevice.backing",
  --> deviceIndex = 9,
  --> msg = "Incompatible device backing specified for device '9'.",
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Cause

This is expected behavior and occurs when there is a serial port attached to the original virtual machine / OVF.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, remove the serial port from the original virtual machine and export to a new OVF.

If the original virtual machine is not available, edit the OVF file and remove the Serial Port Section.

To remove the Serial Port Section:

1. Navigate to the location of the OVF template.
2. Create a backup of the templatename.ovf and templatename.mf files.
3. Open the templatename.ovf file using a text editor.
4. Locate and remove the Serial Port section and save the templatename.ovf file. The Serial Port section looks similar to:
   
   
   <Item ovf:required="false">
   <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>true</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>

   <rasd:ElementName>Serial port 1</rasd:ElementName>

   <rasd:InstanceID>12</rasd:InstanceID>

   <rasd:ResourceSubType>vmware.serialport.device</rasd:ResourceSubType>

   <rasd:ResourceType>21</rasd:ResourceType>

   <vmw:Config ovf:required="false" vmw:key="yieldOnPoll" vmw:value="true" />

   </Item>
   
   
   
   
5. Open the templatename.mf file using a text editor.
6. Locate the row that contains the SHA1 hash of templatename.ovf and remove this line.
7. Save the templatename.mf file.
8. Redeploy the virtual machine using the modified templatename.ovf.

Additional Information