Unable to Patch the Host to ESXi 7.0 Update 3v from 3S as it fails with "Cannot download VIB: ''. This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper 'read' privilege set".

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Host Remediation from LCM fails with below Error
  
  

  Cannot download VIB: ''. This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper 'read' privilege set. Please make sure the specified VIB exists and is accessible from vCenter Server.

• After reviewing the hostd.log
  

  root@ESXI#/var/run/log/hostd.log
  ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info hostd[#####] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc.OptionManager opID=#####-6c-####user=vpxuser:com.vmware.vcIntegrity] Failed to read advanced option subtree UserVars.ImageCachedSystem: N3Vim5Fault11InvalidName9ExceptionE(Fault cause: vim.fault.InvalidName
  ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info hostd[######] [Originator@6876 sub=SoapAdapter.HTTPService.HttpConnection opID=9cfdd3f6] HTTP Connection read failed while waiting for further requests; <io_obj p:0x0000005098afeea8, h:-1, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8307'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 52638'>>, N7Vmacore16TimeoutExceptionE(Operation timed out: Stream: <io_obj p:0x0000005098afeea8, h:-1, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8307'>

Environment

• vSphere 7.x
• vSphere 8.x

Cause

• UserVars.ImageCachedSystem
• UserVars.PXEBootEnabled

These are not standard host advanced settings — and VUM (Update Manager) or vLCM appears to be attempting to read or enforce them, possibly due to an incompatible or corrupt baseline

Resolution

1. 1. Download the image from the support portal and uploaded it to the LCM and created a baseline following the steps below 
      1. Click on the Lifecycle Manager button under the menu in the upper left.
      2. Click on ACTION then Import Updates
      3. Select the .zip file or URL to be uploaded and click Import
      4. Select the Baselines tab and click on New, then Baseline, to name and create the baseline
      5. Select patch and click next, then click next again for the automatic patch selection screen
      6. In the add patches manually screen, filter the name to reflect esx patches
      7. Select the patch you imported
      8. Click Next and Finish
      9. Go to the hosts and clusters view using the menu in the upper left by clicking on Inventory, then hosts and clusters icon
      10. Select the host that you wish to update and click on the updates tab
      11. Click on the ATTACH dropdown in the Attached Baselines section and click on Attach Baseline or Baseline Group
      12. Select the newly created baseline and click on attach
      13. Select the baseline in the attached baselines section and click on remediate
   2. Attach it to the host and successfully patch the host to 7.x U3V