During reboot, host stuck with message: "Shutting down device drivers.. "

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

While using vSphere Lifecycle Manager to upgrade ESXi from 7.0.x to 8.0.x, or while performing a patch update; the DCUi may show the following message: "Shutting down device drivers.." 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

Devices cannot shut down normally on the host. This will cause the reboot progress to not move forward, because the next module will always be waiting for the previous module to complete shutdown.

 

 

 

Resolution

Perform a hard reset of the server to restart the ESXi system. This will likely resolve the issue and allow the upgrade task to finish after a normal reboot.

If the hard reset doesn't allow to proceed with upgrade/update, contact the hardware vendor to verify that the firmware and drivers are compatible.