A specified parameter was not correct: relocateSpec.deviceChange.device error occurs when attempting to update a VM in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• When performing an update on a virtual machine (VM), an error similar to the following is encountered:
  
  Unable to relocate VM. - Task failed, vc-id={########-####-####-####-############}, task-moref={ManagedObjectReference: type = Task, value = task-#####, serverGuid = null}, error={A specified parameter was not correct: relocateSpec.deviceChange.device} - The operation could not be performed because the argument is invalid. A specified parameter was not correct: relocateSpec.deviceChange.device
  
  
• The VM is located on a datastore that is not currently part of the assigned storage policy.
• The Failed Boot Recovery Delay setting on the VM is set to an invalid value, similar to the following:
  
  Error : "validation error on field 'bootRetryDelayMs': Value must be between 10 and 2147483 seconds" when editing VM settings

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.6.1

Cause

The VM is located on a datastore that is not on the current storage policy, which is typically due to activity outside of VMware Cloud Director. For example, the VM could be moved in the underlying vCenter or the assigned datastore could be removed from the assigned storage policy while still populated. When vCD is attempting to apply the update, it is also attempting to remediate the storage inconsistency and encounters this issue due to a resulting specification that cannot be accepted by the underlying vCenter server.

Resolution

In order to correct this issue, the following steps can be performed from VMware Cloud Director:

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. Correct the Failed Boot Recovery Delay setting on the VM, as discussed in the following article:
   
   Error : "validation error on field 'bootRetryDelayMs': Value must be between 10 and 2147483 seconds" when editing VM settings
   
   
3. Confirm that the change completed successfully and was relocated to a datastore that is consistent with the storage policy.
4. Complete any additional changes desired.
5. Power on the virtual machine.