While attempting to stage vCenter Server upgrades, the staging fails reporting "A patch with version <vCenter Server Version> has been staged already. Unstage the patch and try again."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• You may try to stage different versions of the vCenter Upgrade. 
• Either version reports the other version has been staged.
• These errors are shown in vCenter Server /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update_microservice.log:
  

  262:2025-08-26 10:32:43,548 - 1127898 -    update_b2b_target::                         stage:1279 -    ERROR - A patch with version 8.0.3.00500 has been staged already. Unstage the patch and try again

  263:2025-08-26 10:32:43,548 - 1127898 -  task_manager_target::                        update:  91 -    DEBUG - UpdateTask: status=FAILED, progress=0, message={'id': 'com.vmware.appliance.plain_message', 'default_message': '%s', 'args': ['A patch with version 8.0.3.00500 has been staged already. Unstage the patch and try again']}, failure_state=None

  276:2025-08-26 10:33:30,051 - 1129603 -    update_b2b_target::                         stage:1279 -    ERROR - A patch with version 8.0.3.00600 has been staged already. Unstage the patch and try again

  277:2025-08-26 10:33:30,051 - 1129603 -  task_manager_target::                        update:  91 -    DEBUG - UpdateTask: status=FAILED, progress=0, message={'id': 'com.vmware.appliance.plain_message', 'default_message': '%s', 'args': ['A patch with version 8.0.3.00600 has been staged already. Unstage the patch and try again']}, failure_state=None

• The commands from KB391292 fail with the following error:
  

  Command> software-packages list --staged

   [2025-08-27 21:28:36,757] : List packages failed

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

The ISO backing one or more of the staged upgrades may have errors, such as failing the checksum validation.

Resolution

Force vCenter Server to check for upgrades and prepare to stage again by:

1. Log into vCenter Server VAMI as root by going to https://<vcsa-fqdn>:5480/
2. Navigate to Update → Available Updates
3. Click Check Updates → Check CD ROM + URL
4. When the check returns with the list of updates, select the desired version to upgrade and click Stage Only.

The staging should once again copy the files to the vCenter Server and prepare it for the upgrade.