An Error "Number of virtual devices exceeds the maximum for a given controller" occurring when creating a vTPM using New-VTpm to a cloned virtual machine

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Creating a vTPM using New-VTpm to a virtual machine cloned from a template using New-VM fails with the error: "Number of virtual devices exceeds the maximum for a given controller".

In vpxd.log located in directory /var/log/vmware/vpxd, you see entries similar to a error "Too Many Devices", as shown below.

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.fff+hh:mm info vpxd[54816] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=d38bde1-01] Applying ConfigSpec (vim.vm.ConfigSpec) {
-->    createDate = "YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.fffffZ",
-->    deviceChange = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDeviceSpec) [
-->       (vim.vm.device.VirtualDeviceSpec) {
-->          operation = "add",
-->          device = (vim.vm.device.VirtualTPM) {
-->             key = 0,
-->          },
-->       }
-->    ],
-->    memoryReservationLockedToMax = true,
--> } to VM ds:///vmfs/volumes/Datastore/VM-name/VM-name.vmx on host ###.###.###.###

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.fff+hh:mm error vpxd[54816] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=d38bde1-01] Get exception while executing action vpx.vmprov.ReconfigureVm: N3Vim5Fault14TooManyDevices9ExceptionE(Fault cause: vim.fault.TooManyDevices
--> )
--> [context]zKq7AVECAQAAAKlaeQEodnB4ZAAAwuo3bGlidm1hY29yZS5zbwAAWYosANd9LQDf+jKB88IHAWxpYnZpbS10eXBlcy5zbwCBndMHAYFDLQgBgRdcCAEB74vrArdfc3ZweGQAguP3aQGCYvxpAYIp0jQBgqY4OQGCMkk2AYJsnTUBgr27NQGC28E1AYIlAGoBgmYBagGClBBqAYL3PWkBgsaWaQGC0u4zAYJz7zMBAl5P/QJzUv0C8lL9gVf0BQGCKv1qAYIlAGoBgmYBagGClBBqAYL3PWkBgsLnaQEAp1ojADWwIwCAdjcDh38AbGlicHRocmVhZC5zby4wAAT/Nw9saWJjLnNvLjYA[/context]

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware ESXi 7.0.x
PowerCLI

Cause

A vTPM has already been created to a cloned virtual machine.
Since the maximum number of vTPMs that can be create to a virtual machine is 1, attempting to add a vTPM using New-VTpm will result in an error if one is already present.

Resolution

If a vTPM has already been created to the cloned virtual machine, do not create a vTPM using New-VTpm.

Verify whether a vTPM has been create to the virtual machine using the following section.
-----
vSphere Client -> Inventory -> VM -> Edit Settings -> Security Devices (TPM)
-----

Additional Information

Japanese Version:
クローンした仮想マシンで New-VTpm による vTPM の作成が「仮想デバイス数が指定したコントローラの上限を超えています。」で失敗する

New-VM
https://developer.broadcom.com/powercli/latest/vmware.vimautomation.core/commands/new-vm

New-VTpm
https://developer.broadcom.com/powercli/latest/vmware.vimautomation.security/commands/new-vtpm?scrollString=New-VTpm