chipset.motherboardLayout is automatically changed to "acpi" when provisioning a virtual machine from the Content Library after upgrading the hardware version to 20 and higher.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• One of the following symptoms may be observed:
  • Windows Server 2025 VM loses IP after Zerto failover
  • VM defaults to APIPA 169.254.x.x address after cross-vCenter clone
  • VMXNET3 adapter appears as new hardware after replication

• It is observed that chipset.motherboardLayout is automatically changed to "acpi" in the VMX file when provisioning a virtual machine via Content Library, even if the VM template contains chipset.motherboardLayout = "i440bx"
  
  
• While validating the template configuration, the following differences are found:

• • For the Virtual Machine template:

grep chipset *.vmtx

Output:
chipset.motherboardLayout = "i440bx"

• • For the Virtual Machine deployed via the Content Library:

grep chipset' *.vmx

Output:
chipset.motherboardLayout = "acpi"

 

NOTE: This issue is known to impact third-party replication and disaster recovery tools (like Zerto or SRM) when replicating Windows Server 2025 workloads between vCenters running affected builds.

Environment

VMware vCenter 8.0 Update 3f and earlier

Cause

• The content library doesn't preserve chipset.motherboardLayout property while cloning the VM template to the Content Library as OVF file.
• The engine fails to preserve above property and Windows Server 2025 relies heavily on strict hardware ID anchoring for its plug-and-play architecture.
• If the motherboard layout changes, the OS treats the VMXNET3 virtual NIC as a brand-new, un-enumerated hardware device.
• Consequently, the VM boots up with no IP address assigned (or defaults to an APIPA 169.254.x.x address). 

Resolution

This issue has been resolved in VMware vCenter 8.0 Update 3g and later versions.

Workaround#1: Manual .vmx modification

• Ensure the VM is powered off.
• Locate the VM on the datastore and download the .vmx file.
• Change chipset.motherboardLayout = "acpi" to chipset.motherboardLayout = "i440bx"
• Upload the file and register/power on the VM.

Workaround#2: Proactive template modification

• Install OS with firmware set to UEFI.
• Switch firmware to BIOS before exporting to the Content Library.
• After deploying to the destination, switch the firmware back to EFI before the first power-on.
• This forces the correct motherboard layout to be written.

Additional Information

For more information, refer vSphere Client and vCenter Issues section in VMware vCenter 8.0 Update 3g Release Notes

ハードウェアバージョンを 20 以上にアップグレードした後、コンテンツライブラリから仮想マシンをプロビジョニングすると、chipset.motherboardLayout が自動的に "acpi" に変更される(431579)