"A general runtime error occurred" while selecting storage for vMotion, while deploying OVF/OVA, or when creating a VM in vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Unable to select storage for vMotion, OVF/OVA deployment or VM creation.

• Checking the /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps/sps.log on the vCenter Server shows the following:

2025-10-29T19:18:30.349Z [pool-4-thread-7] ERROR opId=q-17679:PbmPropertyProvider:84565-1nyc-h5:70017202 com.vmware.vim.storage.common.serviceclient.identity.impl.AuthenticatedSsoManagerImpl - Could not find the domain name of the username 
2025-10-29T19:18:30.350Z [pool-4-thread-7] ERROR opId=q-17679:PbmPropertyProvider:84565-1nyc-h5:70017202 com.vmware.pbm.vapi.authorization.ProfilePermissionAPIValidatorImpl - [checkProfileValidity]  Exception occurred during getEffectivePrivilege
java.lang.NullPointerException: null
       

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0U3

Cause

The vmware-sps service is receiving a null response when querying for the localos domain to evaluate the user permissions, this is due to the missing default Local OS identity source.

Resolution

Recreate the localos identity source on the vCenter Server:

1. Click Administration > Single Sign On > Configuration > Identity Provider > Identity Sources > ADD
2. Then select Local operating system of SSO server in the Identity Source Type dropdown menu and enter the Name as localos and click ADD.