Attempting to deploy an OVF using ovftool results in an "Invalid VI path" error message

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to use a Powershell script to run OVF Tool to deploy an OVF with an INI configuration file, the following error message is received:

• "Invalid VI path"

Environment

• vSphere 7.x
• vSphere 8.x

Cause

The syntax being used in the INI file for the deployment target location is either incorrect, or is pointing to an invalid location.

Resolution

Verify the correct syntax is being used with the OVF Tool, which can be found in the following documentation:

• Using the VMware OVF Tool - 
  Definitions and Command Syntax

Here is an example, which will deploy the OVF to a target location such as a cluster:

• target=vi://[email protected]:[email protected]/Datacenter/host/Cluster 1

Additional Information

The following documentation lists the Command line options of the OVF Tool.

Command-Line Options