vCenter Server VAMI opens with error "Installation failed - Failed to perform cleanup - You have reached maximum number of retries to resume the patching. Please restore the vCenter using the backup."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• When trying to access the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) UI, instead of the normal interface, an error popup is displayed with the text:

Installation failed

Failed to perform  cleanup

You have reached the maximum number of retries to resume the patching. Please restore the vCenter using the backup.

•  Example:

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

/etc/applmgmt/appliance/software_update_state.conf contains "state": "INSTALL_FAILED"

Resolution

To solve this problem, please restore the appliance from its last known good backup.

If a restore is not possible, you can try working around this issue using the following steps:

1. Open an ssh session to vCenter Appliance and login with root.
2. remove the current software_update_state.conf (containing status "INSTALL_FAILED") from its  current location:

   # mv /etc/applmgmt/appliance/software_update_state.conf  /storage/core

3. Restart the applmgmt service:

   # service-control --restart applmgmt