Unable to Import ESXi 7.0 ISO Images in vSphere 8.0 Lifecycle Manager
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Unable to Import ESXi 7.0 ISO Images in vSphere 8.0 Lifecycle Manager

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Article ID: 381612

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to import an ESXi 7.x ISO image into vSphere 8.x Lifecycle Manager using the Import ISO option, the operation fails with the error message: "The uploaded upgrade package cannot be used with VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager."

Environment

- vCenter Server 8.0 or later
- Target ESXi hosts running versions 6.7.x or 7.0.x
- Attempting to upgrade hosts using vSphere Lifecycle Manager

Cause

vSphere Lifecycle Manager 8.0 has specific version compatibility restrictions:

  • It can only use ESXi 8.0 ISO images for host upgrades
  • It cannot perform ESXi upgrades to version 7.0 or 6.7

Resolution

Since vSphere Lifecycle Manager cannot be used for this upgrade, perform the upgrade using the ESXi command-line interface (CLI):

  1. Download the appropriate ESXi 7.0 offline bundle (ZIP file) from the Customer Connect portal

  2. Prepare the host:
    1. Put the host in maintenance mode
    2. Back up the host configuration:
      • vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/sync_config
      • vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config

  3. Upload the offline bundle to a datastore accessible by the host

  4. Connect to the host via SSH and navigate to the datastore location:
    • cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/folder_name/

  5. List available software profiles:
    • esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/folder_name/filename.zip

  6. Perform the upgrade using the standard profile:
    • esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/folder_name/filename.zip -p profile-name-standard

      Note: Add --dry-run to test the upgrade without applying changes

  7. Reboot the host:
    • reboot

  8. Verify the upgrade:
    • vmware -vl

Additional Information

  1.  
  • Before proceeding with the upgrade, ensure all virtual machines are powered off or migrated

  • The backup file will be located in
    /scratch/downloads as configBundle-HostFQDN.tgz

  • If you encounter VIB-related errors, you can:
    • check storage-related VIBs using:
      • esxcfg-scsidevs -a

    • And network-related VIBs using:
      • esxcli network nic list

  • If upgrading all ESXi hosts using a particular license, the license key may need to be upgraded.
    See Upgrade and Downgrade VMware License Keys