"Remove from Inventory" option grayed out for ESXi host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• In the vCenter Server UI, the "Remove from Inventory" option is grayed out for some ESXi hosts.
• However, the option is available for other ESXi hosts.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Resolution

The issue can be resolved by using one of the following methods:

• Create a new cluster and move the host to the new cluster
• Move the host to the datacenter and using PowerCLI command to remove the host
  • connect-viserver <vcenter FQDN or IP Address>
  • get-vmhost <esx_hostname> | remove-vmhost -confirm:$false
• Reboot vCenter